Documentary

Dans l'atelier de l'artiste — Ep.1 : Philippe Cassard

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Cast

Philippe Cassard — Pianist

Program notes

In this first episode of the series Dans l’atelier de l'artiste (In the Artist’s Studio), Philippe Cassard takes us behind the scenes of his musical practice in an episode dedicated to a beloved work by Debussy, L’Isle Joyeuse.

Born in Besançon in 1962, this French classical pianist is particularly noted as a specialist in the music of Schubert and Debussy, which he has recorded and studied extensively. In this documentary, he presents his musicological and critical perspective on L’Isle Joyeuse (1903), which he interprets with great sensitivity and precision, allowing us to (re)discover this and other major works (including La Mer) by Debussy. An expert pedagogue as well as interpreter, he presents us with pictorial and musical influences to help us understand the composer’s mindset, from Turner’s watercolors to Monet’s Water Lilies, from Chopin to Wagner. “It’s up to us,” he affirms, “to recreate an imaginary world, to recreate the colors in our piano that could correspond to this type of painting.” 

L’Isle Joyeuse, which he describes as Ile de la félicité (Island of Bliss), is a work of romance and passion, evocative both of the real love Debussy felt for his second wife Emma Bardac, as well as of the kind of mythological romance depicted in myth and opera (like Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, a major inspiration for Debussy). For Cassard, his colorful score makes us want to escape and to be overcome by the carefree nature of passion. The documentary ends with the pianist’s complete performance of the piece, a virtuosic reading that perfectly illustrates his words: “You must not simply enjoy the sound, you must create the sound.”

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