You may think that I'm exagerating with this title. Well, I'm not.
The idea of Nocturnes électroniques came to me before the covid years, while recording Sound of elements at Yamaha's headquarter in Lesmo, near Milano, hosted by the great Giovanni Iannantuoni.
I had the chance to play the Disklavier, and was astonished by its capacity to interact with MIDI, record it and play it back. A lot of useful uses had been imagined already for this amazing instrument, but a completely new idea began to root in my mind...
The real point, for me who was newly working with electronics and synths, was the opportunity to use the same language (MIDI, precisely) to activate an electronic and an acoustic instrument.
And, following the thought, playing the acoustic instrument the same way I was begining to play electronics: through Ableton Live. With sequences, slots, midi effects (like arpeggiator, random, note lenght or velocity...). Yes! how would it be to play a piano from the controller?
The answer? Mind-blowing. Never experienced something like this before; it's like conducting, composing and playing in the same time.
The shape of this concert began to spring to life slowly in my mind, with the prince of piano composers, Frédéric Chopin, as my mentor in this new adventure. I would play the Nocturnes -with my fingers- and then sometimes abandon the keyboard to play the piano in this completely new way, creating new music that I would compose following Chopin's pianistic ideas, harmonies or themes...
In short? You have to listen to it, absolutely.
The Première has been held in Aigle, my home, thanks to the innovative friends of Amis de la Musique d'Aigle et du Chablais and Théâtre Waouw . It will be repeated in autumn, november 17th in Milano, Auditorium Bocconi then in December - 3 concerts (December 15th, 16th and 17th) @JeansMusicFestival in Apulia!
And we are right now finishing to mix the album... it will be out in January 2023! -- Matthieu
