We celebrate all things Parisian in honour of composer Jacques Offenbach, born 200 years ago this week. He extolled the charms of living in Paris in his operetta 'La Vie Parisienne'; it had a catchy tune that the Moulin Rouge club borrowed for its dancing girls to kick their heels up to, thus creating the can-can.
Italian duo Gianluigi Trovesi and Gianni Coscia recorded a CD in homage to Offenbach: ‘Frère Jacques: Round About Offenbach’; it's full of Offenbach's tunes, wittily rearranged by the clarinetist and accordionist into their own melodies.
'Frère Jacques – Round about Offenbach' by Gianluigi Trovesi and Gianni Coscia Photo: Round About Offenbach
Argentine tango player and composer Astor Piazzolla found his calling in Paris. He had planned to abandon tango to become a classical composer but his Parisian teacher set him back on his tango calling.
French singer Charles Trenet was a Parisian through and through and left a treasure trove of songs celebrating 'La Vie Parisienne'.
French singer Charles Trenet Photo: Charles Trenet
Pick and Mix features ‘Ex Oriente’ by Gunter Herbig. The CD features music written by the Armenian mystic George lvanovich Gurdjieff which Gunter plays on electric guitar.
Gunter Herbig's album Ex Oriente Photo: Gunter Herbig Ex Oreinte
British composer Mike Oldfield was one of the original artists to use classical techniques in a popular way. We remember his 1973 hit ‘Tubular Bells’.
Music details:
OLDFIELD: To France - Mike Oldfield & Maggie Reilly (VIRGIN 233525)
OFFENBACH: Overture 'La vie Parisienne' - Philharmonia, Neville Marriner (Philips 411 476)
OFFENBACH: La Voix - Gianluigi Trovesi and Gianni Coscia (ECM 2217 (278 1135)
TROVESI/ COSCIA: Tangoffenbach - Gianluigi Trovesi and Gianni Coscia (ECM 2217 (278 1135)
PIAZZOLLA: Tres Tangos: Allegro tranquillo - James Crabb (accordion), Australian CO (CHANDOS CHAN 10163)
BRETON/TRENET: Boum! - Charles Trenet (NOTNOW 490484)
TRENET: Vous Etes Jolie - Charles Trenet (NOTNOW 490484)
WEISSENBERG: Boum - Marc-André Hamelin (HYPERION CDA 67656)
WEISSENBERG: April in Paris - Marc-André Hamelin (HYPERION CDA 67656)
TROVESI/COSCIA: Dedicated to Hélène and her little birds - Gianluigi Trovesi and Gianni Coscia (ECM 22172781135)
GURDJIEFF/HERBIG: Sayyid Chants and Dances - Gunter Herbig (BIS-2435 CD)
OLDFIELD: Tubular Bells, excerpt - Mike Oldfield (VIRGIN 786007)
