IDAGIO | Milhaud: La bien-Aimée - Stravinsky: l'Oiseau de feu 3149028130454

Featuring

Enrique Mazzola
Rex Lawson
Orchestre national d`Île-de-France
Darius Milhaud
Igor Stravinsky

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Recording & Production

The album includes two versions of Milhaud's Grand galop chromatique: the original for orchestra alone, and a bonus version with pianola echoing the orchestra and a cadenza composed by Rex Lawson.

Instruments

The pianola used in this recording is a 1910 Aeolian model, a pneumatic instrument that uses foot pedals to create airflows and 'fingers' to strike piano keys based on perforated paper rolls.

Interpretation

During concerts, Rex Lawson, the pianola player, adjusted the speed of the pianola roll to match conductor Enrique Mazzola's gestures, overcoming the difficulties of playing together.

Performer Biography

Rex Lawson, the pianola virtuoso on this album, made his international debut in 1981 in Paris, performing the world premiere of Stravinsky's Les Noces (1919 version) under the direction of Pierre Boulez.

Composition History

Milhaud's La Bien-Aimée premiered in Paris in 1928 on the same evening as Ravel's Boléro, but it subsequently fell into oblivion.

Compositional Technique

Darius Milhaud's La Bien-Aimée orchestrates piano pieces by Franz Schubert and Franz Liszt and features a Pleyela, a mechanical, semi-automatic instrument that plays music from perforated rolls.