On November 5, the Russian Club in Sydney hosted a concert by classical and jazz pianist Alex Parkmen and French chanson performer Milko Foucault-Larche in the program A Piano that Sings.
It was an unusual concert, including classical music by Debussy and Ravel arranged by Alex Parkmen, his own compositions, jazz melodies, and songs of French chanson - from Gilbert Becaud and Edith Piaf to Yves Montand and Charles Aznavour performed by Milko Foucault-Larche. Alex is well known as an excellent master of improvisation. The audience warmly welcomed the performance of talented performers and sang along to famous melodies, including the famous “Those Were the Days”.
The editor of “Unification” asked performers to tell how the idea came to combine three genres together.
Milko — I heard Alexander playing in Nasha Kazka, I liked it, and I thought, why don’t we perform together? So that he plays classical music, and I perform pop music. There are not many such performances and it may interest different audiences. We worked well together and this is our second performance. We plan to expand the program and will perform next year at the French Music Festival in Sydney.
Alex — I am really pleased and interested in working with Milko, he is a true professional. We plan to include new melodies in our concert and perform more. You may have noticed that in this concert there were pieces that I wrote myself.
— I noticed that you are a true master of interpretation; if you take a melody as a basis and perform it, up to 90 percent is yours.
— There were also compositions written entirely by me: “For Irina” and another piece for piano. I also performed “Modern Etude” - this is my “answer to Rachmaninoff,” one of my favorite composers.
In the direction in which I work, and I am a jazz and classical pianist, I really like to combine these genres, and now also French music. Today I played Chopin's E-flat Nocturne, and I combined it with The Man I Love.
We asked Natasha Davydova what the audience in the hall was saying:
— Alex, he really was able to make the piano speak. His skill and virtuosity were transmitted to the audience. To move completely organically from Chopin's work to Gershwin's, combining them into a single whole - amazing skill. Alex is a great improviser, and this is combined with excellent technique, you get tremendous pleasure from these variations.
This meeting took place at the Russian Club in Strathfield. And although not many spectators came this time, some were frightened by the rain, but those who came did not make a mistake at all and constantly rewarded the artists with applause.
Concert organizer Jeanna Alifanova from the Top Act music agency said:
“I know how carefully the musicians worked on this program. They presented it for the first time last year at the Goethe Institute. Then we managed to gather an almost full hall, and therefore we decided to repeat the concert “The Piano That Sings” once again, but this time in the Russian Club and in the daytime. Especially at the request of those who find it inconvenient to go out into the city, Marrickville or the eastern areas in the evening, where our performances usually take place. Of course, as a concert organizer, I want to see a packed hall every time. Believe me, a lot of effort goes into this.
And we are eternally grateful to everyone who came to the Russian Club that day. I have no doubt that the audience truly enjoyed such a unique program and the incredible talent of the performers. And it also seemed to me that during the concert we were all involuntarily transported to the times of our carefree youth. That’s what the music was like.”
Vladimir KOUZMIN
