Laurent Martin (born 12 September 1945) is a French classical pianist.
After piano studies with Geneviève Zaigue in Troyes, Joseph Benvenuti at the Conservatoire de Paris, Germaine Audibert in Nice and Pierre Sancan in Paris, Martin distinguished himself in several international competitions in Spain and Italy and began a career as soloist and chamber musician in 1977.
Initially confined to a relatively limited activity, [1] he performed alone with Emmanuel Krivine in 1979 and 1980 and then with other prestigious partners. In the same way, his repertoire as an off the beaten track soloist limits his engagements at first, then, after the recording of his first 4 CDs devoted to Charles-Valentin Alkan in the years 1989-1992, his concerts have continued to develop in Europe until today.
He is now recognized as the principal defender and specialist of the little-known French romantic composers and his discography, which exceeds 40 recordings, gives pride of place to world premieres.
This is also how he was approached by the Palazzetto Bru Zane of Venice who engages him every year with the Satie Quartet and which helps him with his CD projects. The first recording of Alexis de Castillon's quintet was thus greeted by a Diapason d'or découverte . Among his "resurrections" of composers are Alkan, George Onslow, Mélanie Bonis, Alexis de Castillon and also Napoléon Henri Reber, Alexandre-Pierre-François Boëly, André Caplet, Alberic Magnard, Charles Martin Loeffler, Théodore Dubois, Federico Mompou and Fernand de La Tombelle.
His research on female composers, with the specialist Florence Launay, also led him to perform the works of Mélanie Bonis, Clémence de Grandval, Blanche Selva, Nadia and Lili Boulanger and Armande de Polignac. In 1978, he also established the Concerts de Vollore which presents forgotten works with great classical performers in the region of Forez in Auvergne.
In Diapason magazine (2008), Alain Lompech wrote: An exemplary recording career. A splendid Chopin recital: broad, singing, coppery sound, deep basses, a rare sense of polyphony and rubato. He seems to invent music as it advances...
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Marc-André Hamelin, OC, OQ is a Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer who has received 11 Grammy Award nominations. He is on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music.
Charles-Valentin Alkan was a French composer and virtuoso pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, among the leading pianists in Paris, a city in which he spent virtually his entire life.
Hélène Rose Paule Grimaud is a French classical pianist and the founder of the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, New York.
Stephanie McCallum is an Australian classical pianist. She has recorded works of Erik Satie, Ludwig van Beethoven, Charles-Valentin Alkan, Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, Carl Maria von Weber, Albéric Magnard, Pierre Boulez, and Iannis Xenakis among others.
Aldo Ciccolini was an Italian pianist who became a naturalized French citizen in 1971.
F-sharp minor is a minor scale based on F♯, consisting of the pitches F♯, G♯, A, B, C♯, D, and E. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative major is A major and its parallel major is F-sharp major.
Nelson José Pinto Freire was a Brazilian classical pianist. Regarded as one of the greatest pianists of his generation, he was noted for his "decorous piano playing" and "interpretive depth". His extensive discography for labels such as Sony Classical, Teldec, Philips, and Decca has garnered awards including the Gramophone Award and Diapason d'Or. Freire appeared as soloist with the world's most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. He played and recorded piano duo music with Martha Argerich, a long-time musical and personal friend.
The Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year has been awarded since 1985, as recognition each year for the best classical music album in Canada. It was a split from the prior category for Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year, alongside a separate new category for Classical Album of the Year – Large Ensemble or Soloist with Large Ensemble Accompaniment.
Vox Records is a budget classical record label. The name is Latin for "voice."
Anne Queffélec is a French classical pianist, born in Paris.
Grande sonate: Les quatre âges, Op. 33, is a four-movement piano sonata by Charles-Valentin Alkan. The sonata's title refers to the subtitles given to each movement, portraying a man at the ages of 20, 30, 40, and 50. The work was published in 1847, dedicated to the composer's father, Alkan Morhange.
Kun-woo Paik is a South Korean pianist. He has performed with multiple orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic.
The Diapason d'Or is a recommendation of outstanding (mostly) classical music recordings given by reviewers of Diapason magazine in France, broadly equivalent to "Editor's Choice", "Disc of the Month" in the British Gramophone magazine.
Joseph-Édouard Risler was a French pianist.
Alexandre Tharaud is a French pianist. He is active on the concert stage and has released a large and diverse discography.
Vincenzo Maltempo is an Italian pianist. He was born in Benevento, Italy.
Stéphane Blet was a French classical pianist and composer.
Maude Gratton is a French classical musician. She is pursuing a career of soloist, mastering the pipe organ, the piano-forte and the harpsichord.
The Satie Quartet is a French string quartet ensemble created in 1999 by four graduate students from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon who chose the name of the composer Erik Satie, who never wrote a string quartet.
Charles-Valentin Alkan composed his Cello Sonata in Paris in 1856, titled Sonate de concert pour piano et violoncelle, Op. 47. The work in E major is structured in four movements.