It’s “April in Paris” on this edition, featuring compositions with the sounds and sensibilities of the City of Light, including violin showpieces, a scintillating Debussy quartet, frenetic Jean Françaix, and much more, all played by the outstanding students and renowned faculty of the Heifetz Institute.
This Episode’s Playlist
François (Louis) Francœur: Cello Sonata in E Major
I. Aria
II. Adagio, gracisoso
Clare Bradford, cello
Carlos Avila, piano
Galvin School Auditorium, Wakefield, MA
Heifetz Institute Recording | 04.10.2016
Henryk Wieniawski: Polonaise in D Major, Op. 4
Yehun Danny Jin, violin
Beilin Han, piano
Francis Auditorium, Mary Baldwin University, Staunton, VA
Heifetz Institute Recording | 07.26.2018
Gabriel Fauré: Papillon, Op. 77
Amit Peled, cello
Stefan Petrov, piano
Francis Auditorium, Mary Baldwin University, Staunton, VA
Heifetz Institute Recording | 07.24.2015
Elgar: Salut D’Amour, Op. 12 [excerpt]
Julia Angelov, violin
Zhenni Li-Cohen, piano
Kreeger Museum of Art, Washington, DC
Heifetz Institute Recording | 12.19.2019
Jean Françaix: String Trio in C Major
I. Allegretto vivo
II. Scherzo
Fiona Khuong-Huu, violin
Joseph Skerik, viola
Boubacar Diallo, cello
Christ Lutheran Church ,Staunton, VA
Heifetz Institute Recording | 03.14.2023
Maurice Ravel: Pavane
Andrew Gonzalez, viola
Carlos Avila, piano
House concert, Staunton, VA
Heifetz Institute Recording | 01.12.2017
Claude Debussy: String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10
IV. Très modéré – En animant peu à peu – Très mouvementé et avec passion
Geneva Lewis, violin
Sophia Steger, violin
Emma Wernig, viola
Ethan Sandman, cello
Francis Auditorium, Mary Baldwin University, Staunton, VA
Heifetz Institute Recording | 08.06.2015
Jules Massenet: Méditation from Thaïs [EXCERPT]
Thomas Mesa, cello (Miami, FL)
Yoon Lee, piano (New York, NY)
Heifetz Institute Virtual Recording | 08.01.2020
Jenő Hubay: Carmen Fantasie
Ria Honda, violin
Zhenni Li-Cohen, piano
Evermay, Washington, DC
Heifetz Institute Recording | 05.03.2019
Saint-Saëns: Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28
Fiona Khuong-Huu, violin
Allison Freeman, piano
Francis Auditorium, Mary Baldwin University, Staunton, VA
Heifetz Institute Recording | 07.07.2022
Go Deeper
From a bust on Broadway to a beloved jazz standard...read up on the fascinating history of the song April in Paris, penned in 1932 by composer Vernon Duke and lyricist E.Y. “Yip” Harburg (of Over the Rainbow fame).
Discover more about French composer Jean Françaix (1912-1997) whose childhood talents “were so extraordinary that his illustrious teacher Nadia Boulanger wrote to Françaix’s mother ‘Madame, I don’t see why we should waste our time teaching him harmony. He already knows harmony. I don’t know how, but he knows it; He was born knowing it. Let’s work on counterpoint’.”
Then there was the time that Count Basie and his band made an incongruous cameo with April in Paris in the middle of the desert in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles….