Laurent Martin, piano

Carole Dubois, piano

"Throughout his life, Théodore Gouvy (1819-1898), who was born in Goffontaine in Lorraine, had to face beingmarginalised for his "cross-border" status. Indeed, his birthplace had been part of the Sarre since 1815 and he wasonly able to obtain French naturalisation at the age of 32. Hence, like Liszt, he could not pursue his musical studies atthe Conservatoire de Paris which was reserved "for the French." This did not prevent him from following his calling,and his works as a composer were prolific and extremely varied.?"His operas, symphonies and chamber music were rediscovered around fifteen years ago. Hitherto, his works forpiano have received little attention, in particular those for two pianos which are of especial interest: firstly, to enhancea somewhat neglected repertoire; and secondly, because they contain some attractive and truly "orchestral" pieceswhich are adeptly written for the two instruments.""In this way, Gouvy, who was considered to be a German composer by the French and a French composer by theGermans - a mind-set which kept him marginalised - is gradually attaining his place as a great European musician.""All the works in this programme were originally written for two pianos except for the Fantasia, which was transcribedfrom a symphonic work."