April 2017
Spring — that enduring musical inspiration — is in the air and reaches your ears thanks to Steinway & Sons Spirio. The springtime music wafts in on a breeze from France, flavored with Edith Piaf, Michel Legrand, Claude Debussy, Francis Poulenc & Maurice Ravel — and these sounds comingle with Vernon Duke and Cole Porter.
Our April in Paris playlist features the titular classic tune played by Bill Charlap as well as a rendition by Ramsey Lewis, who infuses his version with Cole Porter’s “I Love Paris” and some George Gershwin. The playlist includes some wonderful “elaborations” of songs made famous by Edith Piaf, arranged by Roberto Piana and performed by Antonio Pompa-Baldi — exclusively for Steinway. Rounding out April in Paris are great tunes from Gershwin’s An American in Paris: “’S Wonderful” (Charlap), “I Got Rhythm” (Lee), and “I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise” (Khristenko).
Our classical playlist is a series of musical paintings of French Impressionism, with sensitive performances from Hélène Tysman, Shen Lu and the piano duo Jenny Lin & Tania Tachkova playing Ravel’s four-hand Mother Goose Suite.
On video, Spirio offers a Debussy masterpiece, Feux d’artifice (Fireworks), from the Second Book of Préludes, in a stunning performance from the remarkable Sa Chen.
French repertoire is also highlighted with the Spirio debut of Korean pianist Young-Ah Tak, who offers a lovely version of Debussy’s Images, 1ere série. Young-Ah also expands our essential Beethoven catalog with a performance of Sonata, Op 10 No. 2. Another Spirio debut arrives via Susan Merdinger performing Beethoven’s Op. 22 Sonata, while Australian pianist Amir Farid’s Spirio debut introduces Persian classical music to our listeners for the first time — as well as Schubert’s Moments musicaux.
The exceptionally talented Jazz artist Helen Sung debuts on Spirio this month with three tracks by George Gershwin, Thelonious Monk and James P. Johnson. For a taste of Venezuela, we have new tracks from Selene Quiroga.