Stravinsky, Ravel & Gershwin: Transcriptions & Original Piano Works

Featuring

Eric Ferrand-N'Kaoua
Igor Stravinsky
Maurice Ravel
George Gershwin

Did you know?

1/7

Interpretation

Performing these orchestral masterpieces on the piano offers a single musician's subjective, unmediated vision of the music, recreating the soundworld through nuance and character.

Cultural Impact

Walt Disney chose Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring to illustrate the creation of the universe and primordial life on Earth in his 1937 film Fantasia.

Performer Biography

Eric Ferrand-N'Kaoua has performed as a soloist with several Japanese orchestras and collaborated with musicians from Eastern Europe, including the USSR State Symphony Orchestra.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Stravinsky, Ravel, and Gershwin were three cosmopolitan musicians from different cultural capitals who knew and admired one another.

Performer Biography

Pianist Eric Ferrand-N'Kaoua (pronounced Ennkawa) won first prize with distinction in piano at the Conservatoire National Supérieur at age fourteen.

Compositional Technique

The Rite of Spring is a melting-pot of innovations, featuring sharp, asymmetrical rhythms, dislocated accents, and refined sonorities that foreshadow Messiaen.

Compositional Technique

The practice of playing a work written for one or more instruments on another is ancient, with the piano historically serving as a key for exploring repertoire through transcriptions.