Petit Palais de Chaillot - Rebecca Chaillot - Schubert & Liszt - 08/15/26

Franz Schubert: Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960 

Franz Liszt: Piano Sonata in B Minor, S. 178 

Rebecca Chaillot: Piano 

After a few days off to regroup after the previous weekend’s wide-ranging and very satisfying concert marathon, last Saturday my mom and I were back on the road to Colonzelle with our music-loving neighbor and friend Anne-Marie for another concert by the star of the area code and beyond, pianist Rebecca Chaillot, in her beautifully renovated and art-filled petit palais de Chaillot. 

The short but unbeatable program consisted of one major work by each of the two most famous Franz of classical music, who both happened to be ground-breaking composers of the Romantic era, namely the Austrian leader master Franz Schubert and the Hungarian piano virtuoso Franz Liszt. 

That well-timed concert was also a wonderful opportunity to beat the unavoidable malaise that never fails to permeate French national holidays and their weird combination of forced fun, frustrating closures and general apathy. Not to mention that there is something fundamentally unorthodox about celebrating the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in an officially secular country. But whatever. 

We made it to Colonzelle not too early, so we did not have to wait outside the gates, and not too late, so we were able to grab good seats in the packed-to-the-rafters upstairs room. The fact that the concert was dedicated to Étienne Miribel, an early and staunch supporter of the petit palais de Chaillot, may have brought in a few additional people but, in all likelihood, the prospect of hearing the wonderful Rebecca Chaillot was certainly motivation enough to attend. 

Completed only weeks before Schubert’s death at the age of 31 in November 1828, his sprawling Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960, which consists of two slow movements followed by two fast movements clocking in generally at about 40 minutes, is often considered his testament not only due to its timing, but also to its serene quality. Even in the more playful parts, of which they are plenty, one can sense an astonishing human and artistic maturity in the impeccable structures and nuanced emotions. 

Rebecca Chaillot is clearly not a woman prone to freak out or back down when facing a daunting challenge, and she entered Schubert’s ultimate journey with commendable awareness and confidence. She knew when to let the music speak for itself during the sublime introspective moments and when to perk up for the delightful stretches of light-heartedness. 

Completed 25 years after Franz Schubert’s work, Franz Liszt’s thrillingly flamboyant Piano Sonata in B Minor, S. 178 is another masterpiece of the 19th-century Romantic piano repertoire. This continuous, bigger-than-life movement of roughly 30 minutes tells the Faust legend featuring Faust, Gretchen and Mephistopheles themes, which Chaillot explained during her introduction, and a solid dose of highly dramatic music in the best Lisztian tradition. 

Effortlessly switching from Schubert’s meditative statement to Liszt’s dazzling theatrics, Chaillot happily let her hair down and clearly relished sinking her teeth into Liszt’s oh so exciting piece, full of technical challenges, vivid contrasts and brilliant inventions, darkness and light, starkness and sophistication, and gloriously brought it to the surprisingly subdued, almost whispery, ending. She then held that magical silence for an unusually long time, and so did we. 

Once the thundering ovation finally ended, she played a brief but deeply heart-felt improvisation that she dedicated “to Etienne”. And then we were done. Or were we? After having contributed logistically (putting away our chairs) and financially (dropping a donation in the basket) to that enchanted evening, we headed down to the crowded courtyard where a casual and inviting apéritif was being held. The return to reality was therefore progressive and pleasant, and we could not have asked for anything more.

Pradel Association - Schubert, Contet & Cavanna - 08/09/26

Franz Schubert (arranged by Bernard Cavanna): Im Frühling/Frühlingssehnsucht 

Franz Schubert (arranged by Bernard Cavanna): Das Wirtshaus 

Franz Schubert (arranged by Bernard Cavanna): Die Taubenpost 

Franz Schubert (arranged by Bernard Cavanna): Gretchen am Spinnrade 

Franz Schubert (arranged by Bernard Cavanna): Erlkönig 

Pascal Contet: Over the Mountains 

Bernard Cavanna: Trio avec accordéon n°1 (4th movement) 

Julie Cherrier-Hoffmann: Soprano 

Pascal Contet: Accordion 

Saskia Lethiec: Violon 

David Louwerse: Cello 

After exciting but late-ending back-to-back concerts in Le Poët-Laval and Bonlieu-sur-Roubion, last Sunday my mom and I were looking forward to attending a concert also starting at 8:30 PM, but in Dieulefit. Sometimes, there is indeed no place like home, especially when the concert venue is the extremely cool art studio of local painter Jean Soubeyran. Extra bonus: It also happens to have awesome acoustics (To think it used to be a textile mill!) 

Although the Fête du Picodon, the annual festival revolving around the area’s famous goat cheese, and its related markets and festivities had been taking over the town, I had prudently checked those out in the morning while conducting an increasingly frantic and ultimately successful search for solar eclipse glasses, which were in even higher demand than fans back then, and then we patiently waited for the hour to get late and the temperature to go down. 

And then we headed down the road for the concert organized by the Pradel Association, which, according to its advertised program, would treat us to lieder by Franz Schubert and a work by Bernard Cavanna performed by the association’s beloved regulars that are cellist David Louwerse, violinist Saskia Lethiec, accordionist Pascal Contet and soprano Julie Cherrier-Hoffmann. 

Finally, there we were, among a not-so-small audience that eventually pretty much filled up the unusual venue. In fact, the event was so informal that no programs were provided. But even then, it quickly became clear that the program would focus mainly on Schubert’s songs that had been arranged by contemporary accordionist and composer—and, maybe not so coincidentally, huge Schubert fan—Bernard Cavanna, and that was more than fine with us. 

Despite my lack of subject matter expertise, I was able to grasp some content of some of the songs with a little help from soprano and host Julie Cherrier-Hoffmann, and that would include the lovely opener, an exquisitely meditative ode to spring, which was probably “Im Frühling” or “Frühlingssehnsucht”. Delicately evoking the gentle beauty of nature, the composition got a soulful interpretation by Cherrier-Hoffmann, who, after having proven she could proficiently handle French repertoire on Friday night, sounded even better when handling German repertoire on Sunday night. Go figure. 

Another noteworthy miniature, but in a totally different register, was “Das Wirtshaus”, which vividly described a 17th-century “tavern” by way of energizing folk music and just the right amount of darkness. Let’s face it, there’s nothing like a little bit of accordion to give a gathering place a hospitable vibe, even when said place turns out to be a graveyard. Oops! 

Composed by Schubert a few weeks before his death to a poem by Johann Gabriel Seidl, “Die Taubenpost” is widely considered the composer’s inconspicuous swan song, in which an originally low-spirited “carrier pigeon”—or messenger of love— eventually puts on a positive-thinking hat and rather cheerfully confesses an irrepressible lust for life. I mean, it is probably not a coincidence that in the end we learn that the bird’s name is Sehnsucht (Longing). 

And then we moved on to the masterpieces, with first the ferociously dramatic and stunningly accomplished “Gretchen am Spinnrade”, which Schubert amazingly enough wrote when he was 17 years old. Famously mirroring Gretchen's relentless spinning wheel and relentless psychological turmoil, he created no less than one of the first German classical songs of the Romantic era, which sounded exceptionally good last Sunday. On a more personal note, it also reminded of the stunning piano version that Yuja Wang performed at Carnegie Hall once as part of her numerous encores. Ah! Those were the days. 

One year later, the still teenage composer came up with another highly intense tour de force inspired by Goethe’s poem’s “Erlkönig”. All the typical ingredients of a good horror story were there: Late night, dark woods, a galloping horse, a father and his son riding together, the “fairy king” and his alluring daughters, who are all only visible to the young boy whom they try to entice to join them, and the son eventually dying in his father’s arms. Besides the fact that the seducer-turned-abuser theme is unfortunately still as current as ever, the music’s dark overtones and brilliant descriptions came out deliciously spooky in the ensemble’s highly capable hands. 

But Schubert was not the only composer on the program, and we also got a chance to hear “Over the Mountains”, a recent work written and performed by our accordionist for the evening Pascal Contet. That compelling solo piece musically took us on what felt like a refreshing and meditative hike over snow-covered mountains just as we were in fact surrounded by some of Soubeyran’s paintings of snow-covered mountains. Sometimes things just fall into place and all feels right in the world.

The accordion also starred, along with the violin and the cello, in the extended fourth movement of Cavanna’s Trio avec accordéon n° 1, which unfolded smoothly over a unhurried ostinato that gradually expanded around two chords played unchangeably on the accordion. It was as intriguing as it was captivating.

In the end, we wrapped up our Schubert feast with his ever-popular “Ständchen”. Based on a poem by Ludwig Rellstab, this “Serenade” has secured a spot in the lieder repertoire as a prime example of the unabashedly lyrical (and slightly schmaltzy, if you ask me) German Romantic love song genre that Schubert helped instigate and promote. That said, it was a very pleasant end to a very pleasant evening, schmaltz and all.

Académie Provençale des Amis de Stuttgart - Vivaldi, Clarke, Leonarda & Brahms - 08/08/26

Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto for 4 Violins in B Minor, Op. 3 No. 10, RV 580 

Rebecca Clarke: “Poem” for String Quartet 

Isabella Leonarda: Trio Sonata, Opus 16 

Johannes Brahms: String Sextet No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18 

I would go far and wide for my beloved Johannes Brahms, and last Saturday evening, my mom and I went all the way to the very small and very quiet town of Bonlieu-sur-Roubion, whose main attraction, the beautiful complex of its medieval Basilique Sainte-Anne, was going to host a concert featuring—You’ve guessed it—Brahms. Even better, it would be performed by the young members of the Académie Provençale des Amis de Stuttgart (Provençal Academy of the Friends of Stuttgart) whose talent and dedication had already impressed us in previous years. 

Although it had not been decided if this year’s event would take place outside in the carefully maintained cloisters or inside the superbly restored barn since so much depends on the weather these days, once we had arrived there at a ridiculously early time, which is the price to pay if I go with my mom, we and the numerous other attendees were happy to hear that the performance would take place al fresco, even if fresh air is kind of hard to find these days. 

 We also realized that the intriguing program intentionally consisted of a wide range of works that had been composed by women, with women, for women or about women, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the birth of a favorite local luminary, the illustrious madame de Sévigné. Therefore, joyeux anniversaire, madame la Marquise ! 

It was consequently not surprising that the first piece, Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto for 4 Violins in B Minor, Op. 3, had been written for the female orphans of the Ospedale della Pietà in 14th-century Venice. Those abandoned girls would often become prodigiously skilled musicians and perform all over Europe in wildly popular, highly unusual all-female concerts. As performed on Saturday in Bonlieu-sur-Roubion by a mix of prodigiously skilled young men and women, including the four violinists Covandonga Alonso, Carola Eva-Richter, Noé Inui and Kai Ono, the lively piece quickly filled up the elegantly rustic setting with an infectious joie de vivre and plenty of virtuosic sparkles. 

Then the energy level went down a notch (or two) with Rebecca Clarke’s short “Poem” for String Quartet, whose muted string sounds created a quiet, serene, maybe a tad melancholic, mood. Its delicate impressionistic touches brought to mind Ravel and Debussy, which we had heard the previous evening, and contributed to cooling off the hearts and minds as the temperatures were thankfully getting into the bearable warm zone. 

A contemporary of madame de Sévigné, 17th-century Bolognese composer Isabella Leonarda could brag about having made history by writing the first set of instrumental sonatas ever published by a woman. Listening to her lovely Trio Sonata, Opus 16, we could see why she had been bestowed this significant honor. It was not just pretty and engaging, but it was also as well-crafted as any score produced by male composers of early Italian Baroque church music. 

That said, at the end of the day, we had come for Johannes Brahms’ String Sextet No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18, which, in all likelihood, he concocted in tight collaboration of his fellow composer and dear friend Clara Schumann. It is hard to believe that Brahms was just 26 years old when he wrote this highly ambitious, boldly unusual, remarkably accomplished and perennially popular masterpiece. And it was hard to believe that the young musicians on the stage, who mostly had to be in their twenties too, could be so proficient and poised as to effortlessly negotiate the numerous challenges of the thorny composition. But they did, and we were all very grateful for it. 

Our evening had started with the incomparable Vivaldi, and it would close with him too, as the encore turned out to be the highly dramatic and unfailingly exciting Presto movement of the summer from The Four Seasons, which was led by Noé Inui, a clearly fearless violinist and bona fide citizen of the world, who was born in Brussels to a Greek mother and a Japanese father (You just can’t make that up). 

Although we could definitely have used an actual thunderstorm on that still unusually warm evening, we were more than happy to content ourselves with the fast and furious musical version of fierce lightning, ominous thunder, turbulent winds and raging hail. In fact, the performance was so vividly evocative that we almost felt refreshed for a few minutes! Two down, one more to go.

Pradel Association - Fauré, Debussy, Chausson, Massenet, Poulenc, Ravel & Bachelet - 08/07/26

Gabriel Fauré: Élégie, Opus 24 

Gabriel Fauré: Nell 

Gabriel Fauré: Clair de lune 

Gabriel Fauré: Mandoline 

Gabriel Fauré (adapted by Frédéric Chaslin): Après un rêve, avec violoncelle

Claude Debussy: Nuit d’étoiles 

Claude Debussy: Beau soir 

Claude Debussy: Romance 

Ernest Chausson: Le colibri 

Jules Massenet (adapted by Frédéric Chaslin): Élégie, avec violoncelle 

Francis Poulenc: Les chemins de l’amour 

Maurice Ravel: Piano Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello 

Maurice Ravel: Asie from Shéhérazade 

Alfred Bachelet: Chère nuit 

Julie Cherrier-Hoffmann: Soprano 

Frédéric Chaslin: Piano 

Saskia Lethiec: Violon 

David Louwerse: Cello 

After an almost week-long break in La France Profonde—In my case, the insanely bucolic Puy de Dôme region—during which I did not do much more than indulge in eating, drinking, family bonding and sleeping, all in delightfully cooler temperatures, I was back in Dieulefit last Monday, at which point my mom made sure to remind of the flea market, the arts and crafts festival, and the three concerts that were lined up for the rest of the week. 

The first concert, which was organized by the relentless Pradel association, would take place on Friday evening in Le Poët-Laval’s Centre Yvon Morin, a wonderful local art gallery that includes a cool performance space. Getting there is not for the faint of heart or the mobility challenged, but the intimate size, the tasteful décor, the friendly atmosphere and the decent acoustics more than make up for the trouble of walking down (and later, up) the treacherous stone steps of the famously beautiful hilltop village. 

So, that’s where my mom and I were on Friday evening, for a promising program dedicated to a wide range of French music, from a boldly complex instrumental trio to some of the most irresistible classical French songs. The musicians included familiar faces and confirmed virtuosos such as violinist Saskia Lethiec and cellist David Louwerse, as well as new names such as soprano Julie Cherrier-Hoffman and pianist (and conductor, composer and, in this case, host) Frédéric Chaslin. We were in all likelihood in good hands. 

After an excessively early arrival (My mom being constantly paranoid about parking and open seating), a subsequent long wait, and a late opening of the center, the relatively small—but, as Pradel Association’s president Pascaline Dallemagne herself pointed out, high-quality—crowd was ready. 

First of all though, the right atmosphere had to be set. Enter Frédéric Chaslin and David Louwerse, who masterfully kicked off the concert with Gabriel Fauré’s exquisitely melancholic “Élégie” (Elegy), Opus 24. The rest of the first half of the carefully curated program was filled with songs by not only Gabriel Fauré, but also Claude Debussy, Ernest Chausson, Jules Massenet and Francis Poulenc, a sterling group of 19th- and 20th-century French composers indeed. French soprano Julie Cherrier-Hoffmann proved to a thoroughly engaging singer, who cleverly leveraged her highly nuanced voice and her rock-solid technique to vivaciously express the agonizing pains, and occasionally the invigorating joys, of love. 

Unsurprisingly, the biggest hits were two compositions that had been recently adapted by Chaslin so that they would include the cello (When you are lucky enough to have David Louwerse around, it is hard to refrain from putting him to work). Therefore, we had the privilege to attend the ultra-exclusive world premières of these new versions of Fauré’s “Après un rêve” (After a Dream) and Massenet’s “Élégie” (Elegy), in which the gorgeous darkness of the cello brilliantly accompanied the emotionally charged singing while the steady piano was reliably keeping everything under control. There is no doubt that the composers would have been pleased. 

After the intermission, Dieulefit-Le Poët-Laval regular Saskia Lethiec finally joined the party for Maurice Ravel’s superb Piano Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello, the one he wrote in a mad rush before enlisting to go fight in World War I (Never mind that due to his short stature, he reluctantly ended up making himself useful as a volunteer truck driver instead of going to the front). The three instrumentalists delivered a perfectly balanced, deeply committed performance of the richly textured, vividly colorful piece. Even the restless toddler and frisky dog that were sporadically running around could not break the magic spell we were all under. 

After such virtuosic fireworks, we had to briefly regroup in order to be able to reconnect with the more ephemeral pleasure of the last two numbers on the program: Maurice Ravel’s exotic “Asie” (Asia) from his Shéhérazade song cycle, whose increasing intensity was powerfully mesmerizing, and Alfred Bachelet’s opulent “Chère nuit” (Dear Night) whose lush melody leisurely unfolded in a dreamy haze. 

 It was getting late, but we were not done yet. As a party favor, the four musicians got together for a totally improvised and highly entertaining version of Erik Satie’s sensual waltz “Je te veux” (I Want You), which concluded our evening in Le Poët-Laval on a totally uplifting note. One down. Two more to go.