Julian Haylock, in the latest edition of the prestigious string magazine The Strad, wrote a glowing review of Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà’s latest recording, featuring Jean Françaix’s Gargantua.

” […] Composed as recently as 1970, it sounds for all the world like a gently playful product of1920s Paris, with its knowing musical asides guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s face. Throughout, Françaix sustains an exquisite luminosity and impeccable ear for balance, which Angele Dubeau and her gifted ensemble of musicians play with such radiant warmth and sensitivity (ideally matched by the velvety engineering) that it is impossible to imagine the work better performed.”
[…] This issue’s impeccably high performing standards are fully maintained in the shorter pieces, with some truly melt-in-the-mouth textures and heavenly phrasing in the piano-and-strings L’heure du berger. The otherwise light-hearted Serenade B.E.A. ends with a haunting epilogue, acknowledging the fact that during work on the piece a certain Beatrice (after whom it is named)jilted the wealthy Hungarian who had commissioned the work for her as a present in the first place. A wonderful disc.“

To listen to the recording…

This victory at the Tchaikovsky Competition catapulted him onto the international stage, and concerts in Canada, the US (at Carnegie Hall among other venues), in Europe, and Asia, including a lengthy tour at the invitation of the Chinese People’s Republic, followed. He was almost immediately dubbed a “Romantic pianist”, a label that stuck for several decades. “When you win the Tchaikovsky, there’s no going back,” he told me a few years back in an interview. “But I’d rather be known as simply a musician.”

Laplante soon felt that the ordinary musical career path wasn’t entirely to his liking. At this point he left Columbia Artists for personal management and decided to invest a good portion of his time working on previously neglected repertoire, for example Mozart. Invitations to perform didn’t come so frequently, but Laplante stuck to his new regime. This delicate balance between two poles, he achieved it and can now look at the path taken with pride: “In the end I found balance and incredible joy in playing. You can always learn, be happier, communicate better.” His latest recording, a Chopin recital, certainly stands as a vibrant example of this newly assumed maturity.

To listen to his recent Chopin recital…

André Laplante was born in the small Quebec town of Rimouski and later continued his studies in Montreal with Yvonne Hubert, before moving to New York (and having lessons with Sascha Gordnitzki) and Paris (with Yvonne Lefébure). As many young and ambitious musicians do, he enters international competitions. He made a good showing at the Jacques Thibaud Competition in 1973 and did the same in Sydney in 1977. The following year he won the silver medal at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky competition, competing with 91 pianists.
André Laplante’s powerful, controlled and dynamic performance of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto in the last round of competition had such tremendous success that a recording of it is still quite popular in Russia. Unfortunately for the American and European public, the CBC recording was only available for a short time so Analekta reissued it in 1999.

In an exclusive interview, André Laplante relived a few moments of the Moscow experience, a key moment of his career. “What I also came back with was a certain realization of my strengths and weaknesses, and of what impact my playing had on others,” he said, 20 years after the event.

He remembers that from the beginning of the first round, people reacted very warmly to his playing: “They were responding to what I was giving emotionally, which made me very happy. It was a public who wanted to be touched, moved. We have to remember how much the lives of Russians, at the time, was different from ours. I really think that the more they lacked freedom in their everyday life, the more important it was for them to be able to indulge in the music, and to be free to express their pleasure.”

After an explosive second round, exceptionally mature, audience applauded an empty stage for 15 minutes after his one and only allowed bow. “People came to see me later and it was not “Monsieur Laplante” any more, but simply “André.” They adopted me like a son.”
For the final round, he went for a big bang, performing Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto, a work which still had a special resonance in Russia. “It was, for me, a concerto that was both musically and pianistically satisfying—there is an immense pleasure in having your fingers dig into the rich Rachmaninov texture. It was also a piece that I had worked on and played since I was 15 or 16 years old, and it had become “second nature” for me. It was a unique moment, one that I will never forget, because I felt that I had been able to express everything it was possible for me to express at that time of my life. I had a few weeks to reflect after the competition, and when the dust settled I realized more how big a responsibility it is to learn to express one’s own voice, and become a better artist in the process, through exploring new repertoire and gathering new musical perspectives, while surviving the hectic schedule brought on by the competition.”

To read the complete interview and listen to Laplante’s rendition of the Concerto…

“We must always remember that what is important is not what we can do with music but what music does to us—it is not the music that must open itself to us, but we who must open ourselves to music, and in order for this to happen, one needs a lot of formal and also emotional education. To me, this is absolutely fundamental.”

André Laplante

This Sunday, Alain Lefèvre will devote his Espace musique radio show to pianist André Laplante in a heartfelt homage to this remarkable Canadian pianist. In the next few days, we will take a look back at André Laplante’s journey, with a mandatory stop in 1978 when he won silver at the Tchaikovsky Competition.

Starting next week, the Montreal Jazz Festival celebrates its 30th anniversary. Among the prestigious guests invited this year, the presence of quite a few Analekta artists must be mentionned.

On June 30, July 1 and 2 à 7:30 p.m. at the Cinquième Salle in Place des Arts, you will be able to listen to the enthralling music of Philip Glass as performed by Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà. A unique occasion to hear this remarkable CD live! (for tickets…)

Lorraine Desmarais and her Big Band will light up Théâtre Jean-Duceppe’s stage on July 9 at 8 p.m. with material from their recent album. (details here…)