LDV110

17 FRANÇOIS-FRÉDÉRIC GUY You have performed several works by Tristan Murail. I premiered his first two piano concertos as well as several of the works on this album, and I’ve played many of Murail’s other pieces in concert. They have the clarity and elegance that are identified as the hallmarks of French music of the first half of the twentieth century. That being said, a composer of today draws on many influences. Tristan Murail mentions those of Debussy and Alexander Scriabin – himself an admirer of Debussy; one only has to listen to Le Poème de l’Extase to be persuaded of the fact – as well as the filiation with his teacher Olivier Messiaen and Franz Liszt. But over and above these influences, Murail remains above all an immense composer with an extremely personal style who is at the peak of his mastery.