Guillaume Coppola

PIANO

Dreams of Spain

Piano four hands with Hervé Billaut

After the success of Carmen, Paris is passionate about Spain. On both sides of the Pyrenees, musicians share their tastes for an art imbued with popular traditions.

We chose to build this program around Maurice Ravel, arguably the most Spanish of the French musicians of that time, from the folklore Spain of Chabrier to the more authentic young Falla, it is Paris at the turn of the 20th century. reveals itself in music.

Vincent D'INDY
Seguidilla à l’Alameda de Séville (extract from Sept chants de terroir, op. 73/3)

Manuel DE FALLA
Two Spanish dances (from the opera La Vida Breve) (transcription for piano 4 hands by Gustave Samazeuilh)

Maurice RAVEL
Spanish rhapsody (original version for piano 4 hands)
Prélude à la nuit
Malagueña
Habanera
Feria

Mel BONIS
Habanera (extract from Pièces à 4 mains, op. 130/5)
Gitanos, op. 15-2

Moritz MOSZKOWSKI
new Spanish dances , op. 65
I-Allegro ma non troppo
II-Andante con moto
III-Habanera : Allegretto

Gabriel FAURÉ
Le Pas espagnol (extrait de Dolly, Six pièces, op. 56/6)

Emmanuel CHABRIER
España, rapsody for orchestra (transcription for piano 4 hands by André Messager)

Discography

Rêves d'Espagne

Guillaume Coppola et Hervé Billaut
piano four hands

Eloquentia, 2021

Paris, early 20th century. After the success of Carmen, France was fascinated by Spain. On both sides of the Pyrenees, musicians shared a taste for an art form steeped in popular tradition.
The only true Spaniard in this programme, Falla lived in Paris and befriended his French colleagues, notably Ravel, the most Spanish of the French musicians of the time. The latter composed for piano, before transcribing it for orchestra, the first version of his Rhapsodie espagnole, a masterpiece of colour and virtuosity, played in concert by the artists in its two versions for four hands or two pianos. Chabrier, after a stay with his family, wrote to his publisher Lamoureux promising him a piece inspired by his trip that would make the audience stand up and embrace! His España has a postcard feel, as does Fauré's Pas espagnol from Dolly. Mel Bonis, a composer to be rediscovered, delivers a sensual, oriental Habanera and will win a prize with her Gitanos, which is closer to a waltz from the Parisian suburbs to which castanets have been added than to real flamenco, whose harshness is more apparent in Vincent d'Indy's Seguidille, which takes us to the Alameda in Seville. Moritz Moszkowski, a German of Polish origin, has also spent time in Paris, and his touching vision of Spain is halfway between folklore and a nod to Carmen. An album that promises to be festive and rhythmic!