Lore Binon & Claire Chevallier
Contes, ballades et quelques chansons belges
Peter Benoit’s works for piano are among the most interesting Belgian keyboard music of the 19th century. Piano virtuoso Claire Chevallier will play pieces including his very popular Derde fantasie and a selection from his Contes et ballades: illustrative music for piano solo in which Benoit gives his imagination free rein. In the Brussels-born composer Paul Gilson’s works for piano, the night is a recurring theme. The first work on this theme is his Nocturne written in 1889. Two years later, he wrote a Berceuse. The soprano Lore Binon and Claire Chevallier have selected beautiful, lyrical songs by August De Boeck His songs to poems in French reveal a particularly sensitive inspiration. Maurice Ravel, for example, gave the following compliment at the time: “Mais c’est aussi beau que du Fauré!”.