Claire-Marie Le Guay

Thierry Escaich and Claire-Marie Le Guay are very familiar with the repertoire for organ and piano, playing it together regularly. This is how the pianist inspired the composition of Choral's Dream. 

“Each instrument,” explains the composer, “is an orchestra in its own right, but in its own way: one with its richness of color and layers, the other with its sonic fullness and flexibility. To bring them together, you have to make them move toward each other, find points of convergence.”

Choral's Dream is resolutely symphonic, (...) and the enemy brothers are called upon to join forces, to sublimate each other, instead of subjugating or opposing each other. The piano enlivens the inert sound of the organ with its arpeggios and pearly runs. Conversely, the organ prolongs the piano's resonances, enveloping it with its wide spectrum thanks to its highest and lowest registers; its undulating bass registers provide a foundation and mellowness to the piano's more percussive sounds. The fusion between the two instruments is evident from the very first bars. (Claire Delamarche / Publisher Billaudot, excerpt)

BACH
Italian Concerto, piano

BACH
Dorian Toccata, organ

SCHUMANN
Preamble and Eusebius, excerpts from Carnival, piano

ESCAICH
Improvisation, organ

WIDOR
Two duets, organ and piano

ESCAICH
Aria, piano

ESCAICH
Impressionist Study No. 2, piano

LISZT
Transcendental Etude No. 10
Appassionata

ESCAICH
Choral's Dream, organ and piano (premiere in May 2021 - commissioned by the Monte Carlo Spring Arts Festival)

LISZT
Mazzepa, Final Allegro con molto brio, organ and piano