PARIS-MOSCOU

Cellist Christian-Pierre La Marca joins forces with his stage partner, pianist Lise de la Salle, for a program titled “Paris-Moscow”.

The Franco-Russian artistic fascination has always existed. It is mutual, strong, sincere and still relevant today (even in the current geo-political context).

In the tradition of the great Romantics inspired by Chopin (whose sonata Rachmaninov based on) and Schumann (whose vocal lines inspired Fauré), this project takes us to the heart of an era, a universe, a crossroads between late Romanticism and new musical languages.

Bringing to light different, singular styles and languages, all coexisting at the same time, is fascinating. It is also interesting to see how the music was passed on from one generation to the next, in the case of Saint-Saëns, Fauré’s teacher who perpetuated a “French” tradition, and Rachmaninov – who, despite sometimes conflictual relations, was greatly inspired and influenced by his teacher Tchaikovsky, himself one of the guardians of Russian Romanticism. Tchaikovsky also showed a particular attachment to France through his regular visits to Paris – he was a regular at the Café de la Paix – and had a passion for another French composer: Edouard Lalo.

On an artistic level, these two cities always maintained an obvious passionate relationship, and it is through the sublime pages of Fauré or Rachmaninov, but also through magnificent transcriptions of opera arias by Saint-Saëns, Massenet, Prokofiev and Stravinsky that Christian-Pierre La Marca and Lise de la Salle masterfully illustrate this historic musical liaison, demonstrating their obvious complicity, and once again showing their unique and strong musical personalities, spearheads of the young generation.