Rosa Musica - Itinéraire d'un héros solitaire - 09/20/26

Franz Schubert: String Quartet in C Minor, D.703 (Quartettsatz) 

Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne In C-sharp Minor 

Frédéric Chopin: Impromptu No. 3, Opus 51 

Frédéric Chopin: Scherzo No. 3, Opus 39 

Frédéric Chopin: Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21 for Piano and String Quintet 

Quatuor Girard 

François Dumont: Piano 

Claire-Elie Tenet: Bass 

Just as we have been getting so close to fall that we have almost been able to smell it, these past couple of weeks have been filled with various fun activities such as readings, one of which almost reconciled me with Proust (!?), arts exhibits, which were a decidedly mixed bag but hey, that’s the effort that counts, a fall literary season presentation, with so many promising books that it will probably take a whole season to read them all, and, finally, some live music too, even if my mom and I had to go all the way to Bonlieu-sur-Roubion last Sunday to enjoy it… in a barn! 

But not just any barn, mind you. This was the stunningly restored barn that belonged to the Monastère Sainte-Anne, a former abbey for women founded in 1171, which we had already visited earlier this summer for a concert al fresco. This time, we would get to hear the all-siblings Quatuor Girard and their special guests, who would be tackling two major leaders of the Romantic genre: Schubert The Wanderer and Chopin The Dreamer. Hence the title of the evening organized by Rosa Musica: The Journey of a Lone Hero.

We in fact ended up having plenty of extra time to enjoy our surroundings as well as a quick warm-up by pianist François Dumont and the company of our friend Pascaline because, besides arriving a good half an hour before the starting time we had been given (Thanks, mom!), we had to wait for another half an hour for the concert to start due to some confusion between the artists and the venue regarding scheduling. So, instead of starting at the excellent time of 6:00 PM, the concert started at the still very good time of 6:30 PM in the packed barn. 

And then, as if they had been itching to get on with the show, the musicians proved to be unstoppable. Things got underway with Franz Schubert and his shortish but epic Quartettsatz, the only finished movement of an unfinished string quartet, but then again, as is often the case with Schubert’s unfinished works, what more was there really to say? Nothing, as the Quatuor Girard categorically demonstrated with their wonderfully energized reading that found the perfect balance between turbulent dark currents and soaring lyrical grace. 

Next, highly regarded pianist and Chopin expert François Dumont played three solo pieces of Frédéric Chopin, starting with one of my all-time favorites, his exquisitely simple yet deeply emotional Nocturne In C-sharp Minor. The more obscure but excitingly sophisticated Impromptu No. 3, Opus 51, and then the unapologetically fierce and highly contrasted Scherzo No. 3, Opus 39 completed this interestingly wide-ranging and masterfully performed Chopin mini set. 

But we were not done with Chopin or Dumont, and he was then joined by the Quatuor Girard and multi-talented performer Claire-Elie Tenet, who was wearing her bassist hat on Sunday and, as such, had her humongous instrument completely under control, even on scarily sky-high heels. This made-up but extraordinarily tight ensemble had the challenging mission of playing a piano and string quintet version of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21, and they fulfilled it magnificently. I had often suspected that Chopin was not always sure what to do with a whole orchestra, and this terrific pared-down performance confirmed my belief that sometimes smaller is better indeed. 

And then, who do you turn to after Schubert and Chopin when you are a string quartet plus a bass plus a piano? Well, Mozart, of course. And that’s just what the musicians did with an intimate take on the famous Adagio of his Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467, so famous, in fact, that first violin and quartet spokesperson Grégoire Girard had facetiously decided to let us guess what it was. Regardless of the level of recognition among the audience, there was no doubt that it was relished by all.

Petit Palais de Chaillot - Rebecca Chaillot & Edna Stern - All-Mozart - 08/30/26

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488 (Adagio) 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Twelve Variations on “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman”, K. 265 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467 (Andante) 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Fantasia No. 4 in C Minor, K. 475 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448 (375a) 

Rebecca Chaillot: Piano 

Edna Stern: Piano 

As summer is coming to an end, days are getting shorter and temperatures are finally going down—but not without a last flare-up this past weekend for good measure, of course—there is a lot going on in the petit palais de Chaillot, the stunningly renovated and constantly bustling home, performance space and art center of piano virtuoso and fearless entrepreneur Rebecca Chaillot, in the sleepy little village of Colonzelle. 

That said, since I love listening to piano four hands, I love listening to anything written by Mozart, and I love listening to anything played by Rebecca Chaillot, I quickly zeroed in on a concert that would serendipitously combine the three ingredients. Even better, it would take place on a Saturday evening, which meant that there wouldn’t be any last-minute work-related interference from across the pond, and while it would start at the ungodly hour of 8:00 PM in distant territory, it was only supposed to last one hour. 

That’s how my mom and I, along with our current friend and neighbor Anne-Marie and our new friend and future neighbor Brigitte, ended up in the petit palais de Chaillot on a lightly breezy Saturday night that would have in fact been ideal for a concert in the lovely courtyard, except that setting up two grand pianos in there seemed next to impossible. So, we took heart and climbed the rustic stone staircase to join the masses in the large upstairs concert room, which presented the double advantage of being well-ventilated (Hello cool air!) and copiously sprayed with citronella (Good-bye mosquitoes!). 

Starting a concert with a particularly remarkable work is always risky—Where are you gonna go from there?—but that did not stop Rebecca Chaillot and her guest Belgian-Israeli pianist and teacher Edna Stern, who was in town to host a week-long masterclass, to go for it with one of the most sublime movements ever written by Mozart, namely the Adagio of his Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488, with Stern in the soloist part and Chaillot in the orchestra part. And sure enough, Mozart’s understated yet extraordinary expressive music soon wrapped us all up in its immaculate perfection. 

Being a child prodigy, Mozart by default did not have a traditional childhood, or even any childhood at all, really, so it is not that surprising that he eventually turned that missing part of his life into the truly enchanting Twelve Variations on the French folk song “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman” (known in the U.S. as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”), K. 265, when he was about 25 years old. On Saturday evening, Chaillot treated us to a wonderful solo performance of it that expertly highlighted both the brilliance and the playfulness of the still young but fast-maturing composer. 

Next came the smash hit of the evening in the Andante of the Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467, which features one of those classical music phrases that get a life of their own after having made an appearance in pop culture, in this case the 1967 Swedish film Elvira Madigan. But seriously, how could one resist the serene beauty and dream-like atmosphere that Chaillot and Stern delicately brought to life in their respective soloist and orchestra parts? 

Since Chaillot had gotten her solo turn, it was only fair that Stern got hers too. Luckily for us, she had chosen Mozart’s irresistible Fantasia No. 4 in C Minor, K. 475, an exciting experiment displaying a wide range of rapidly shifting emotions, including agitation, anxiety and tenderness, that often feels improvised on the fly despite its expertly built structure. It takes a bold musician to take on such a bold composition and succeed, and we had just the right person in Edna Stern on Saturday night. 

To conclude this fantastic Mozart-centric evening, his Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448, which is essentially a splendid concerto for two equal piano partners sans orchestra, had been chosen. It took the two ladies a little while to get settled because there had been no rehearsal, which led to some confusion regarding the position of Stern’s page turner. But once they got started, there was no stopping them. They navigated the three challenging movements—bubbly, gentle and athletic—in perfect harmony down to the tiniest details, including a delightfully fun Turkish-style cadence. Bravo! 

And that was it. And that was enough, as the musicians had gone far and beyond the expected hour of gorgeous music, but who’s counting anyway? So, we skipped the informal post-concert get-together in the courtyard and hit the dark and lonely country road, our heads still happily buzzing with the most exquisite melodies.