L'Achéron / François Joubert-Caillet

EARLY MUSIC

Soleils de septembre

Astor Piazzolla & Nadia Boulanger

François Joubert-Caillet, viola da gamba
Julie Dessaint, tenor viol
Aude-Marie Piloz, tenor viol
Sarah van Oudenhove, bass viol
Jean-Baptiste Henry, bandoneon

June release with Fuga Libera

Astor Piazzolla was about thirty years old when he went to France to study composition with Nadia Boulanger at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau. He stayed in Paris for several years and the teaching he received from the woman considered to be the greatest musical educator of the 20th century changed the Argentine musician's writing. Nadia Boulanger showed him that he must not forget where he came from, the tango, his primary identity, and invited him to sublimate it rather than try to erase it.

This unique project illustrates the meeting of these two exceptional musicians by highlighting their respective origins, traditional music for Piazzolla, Carlos Gardel but also Alberto Ginastera, or the influences of Gabriel Fauré and his sister Lili for Nadia Boulanger. A great lover of early music, the latter conducted and recorded an impressive number of works from the Renaissance and the Baroque, an inspiration represented here by the viola da gamba consort.

The mirror-like conversation between the modern 'classical' pieces and the arrangements of Piazzolla's themes from this Parisian period are just like the encounter between the bandoneon and the viols: surprising, magical, unheard of.

Nadia BOULANGER
Trois improvisations, Pièce sur des airs populaires flamands

Lili BOULANGER
Soleils de septembre

Gabriel FAURÉ
Pavane

Igor STRAVINSKY
Tango

Johann Sebastian BACH
Aus Liebe

Astor PIAZZOLLA
Luz y sombra, Chau Paris, Rio Sena, Fracanapa, Preparense, etc.

Alberto GINASTERA
Triste, Vidala

Carlos GARDEL
El día que me quieras

Discography

Soleils de septembre

François Joubert-Caillet, treble viol
Julie Dessaint, tenor viol
Aude-Marie Piloz, tenor viol
Sarah van Oudenhove, bass viol
Jean-Baptiste Henry, bandoneon

Fuga Libera, 2026

Astor Piazzolla was just over thirty years old when he travelled to France to study composition with Nadia Boulanger at the American Conservatory of Fontainebleau. Her teaching had a profound influence on his music. Whilst Piazzolla was seeking to perfect his classical style, Boulanger encouraged him to embrace his roots in tango, urging him not to abandon his identity, but to elevate it.

This project celebrates their meeting by weaving together their respective musical worlds: Piazzolla’s Argentine heritage, from Carlos Gardel to Alberto Ginastera, and Boulanger’s French influences, notably Gabriel Fauré and Lili Boulanger, as well as her love of early music, evoked here through a consort of viols. The dialogue between the classical works and pieces from Piazzolla’s Parisian period brings this extraordinary exchange to life: unexpected, magical and unique.