French piano duo and sisters
The Labèque sisters, Katia (born 11 March 1950) and Marielle (born 6 March 1952), are an internationally recognised French
piano duo .
[1]
Biography
Education and first performances
Katia and Marielle Labèque were born in
Bayonne , on the southwest coast of France, near the Spanish border in
Northern Basque Country . Their father was a doctor,
rugby football player , and music enthusiast who sang in the
Bordeaux Opera choir. Their Italian mother, Ada Cecchi, a former student of
Marguerite Long , was their first teacher; she began their lessons when they were three and five years old.
[2] After graduating in piano from the
Conservatoire de Paris in 1968, the sisters began working on
piano four hands and two pianos repertoire. They recorded their first album, Les Visions de l'Amen of
Olivier Messiaen ,
[3] under the artistic direction of the composer, and continued to perform
contemporary music , including works by
Luciano Berio ,
[4]
Pierre Boulez ,
Philippe Boesmans ,
György Ligeti and Olivier Messiaen.
International career
This performance repertoire achieved some recognition, but celebrity arrived when their 1980 two-piano recording of
Gershwin 's
Rhapsody in Blue sold over a half million copies.
[5] Beyond the traditional classical repertoire, their repertoire extended to
contemporary classical music ,
jazz ,
ragtime ,
flamenco ,
minimal music ,
baroque music on period instruments,
pop music , and
experimental rock .
The sisters discovered
baroque music with Marco Postinghel, and commissioned two Silberman
fortepianos in 1998. They played these instruments with
Il Giardino Armonico
[6] conducted by
Giovanni Antonini ;
Musica Antiqua Köln conducted by Reinhard Goebel (
Johann Sebastian Bach commemoration year in 2000);
the English Baroque Soloists conducted by
John Eliot Gardiner ; the Venice Baroque Orchestra conducted by
Andrea Marcon ; and with the
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
[7] conducted by
Simon Rattle .
[8]
They performed for 33,000 people at the
Waldbühne gala concert, the last concert of the 2005 season of the
Berlin Philharmonic ,
[9] and in May 2016 for more than 100,000 people at
Schönbrunn Palace
[10] with the
Vienna Philharmonic , conducted by
Semyon Bychkov .
Many works have been written especially for them, such as "Linea" for two pianos and percussion by
Luciano Berio ; "Water Dances" for two pianos by
Michael Nyman ; "Battlefield"
[11] for two pianos and orchestra by Richard Dubugnon; "Nazareno"
[12] for two pianos, percussion and orchestra by
Osvaldo Golijov and Gonzalo Grau; "The Hague Hacking"
[13] for two pianos and orchestra by
Louis Andriessen ; "Capriccio" by
Philippe Boesmans ; and "Concerto for two pianos and orchestra"
[14] by
Philip Glass , performed in Los Angeles by the
Los Angeles Philharmonic , conducted by
Gustavo Dudamel .
Katia and Marielle expanded their repertoire for two pianos and percussion with works such as the first instrumental version of
West Side Story , transcribed by
Irwin Kostal (orchestrator of the original musical); and the version for two pianos and
basque percussions of
Maurice Ravel 's
Boléro . They premiered "Four Movements" for two pianos by
Philip Glass in France, England, and Italy, where in the summer of 2011 they opened the 48th Edition of the Chamber Music Festival of
Cervo, Liguria ;
[15]
[16]
[17] and in Cuba. In November 2011, they premiered the project "50 Years of Minimalism" at
Kings Place ,
London ,
[18] with works by
John Cage ,
David Chalmin ,
William Duckworth ,
[19]
Arvo Pärt ,
Michael Nyman ,
Terry Riley ,
Steve Reich ,
Howard Skempton and others.
Recording career
Between 1970 and 1997, the sisters recorded albums for Erato (
Warner Classics ),
Philips Records ,
EMI Classics ,
Sony Music Entertainment and
Decca Records . They ceased recording for 10 years before creating their own classical
music label , KML Recordings, in Italy in 2007. They also produce young bands and musicians of different musical backgrounds, such as
experimental rock (B for Bang DimensionX, Dream House, Red Velvet), and
traditional music (
Mayte Martin ,
Kalakan ). They produced the first album by Basque trio
Kalakan
[20] and introduced them to their friend
Madonna
[21] in 2011. After this meeting, the trio participated in Madonna's
MDNA Tour in 2012. In June 2016 the sisters joined the
Deutsche Grammophon record label
[22] for distribution of their
record label , KML Recordings.
In 2005 they created their own foundation, "Fondazione Katia e Marielle Labèque", in
Rome , with the aims of promoting the relationship between music and image, commissioning new works for two pianos, and supporting
experimental music groups. Their first project in 2009 supported the young filmmaker
Tal Rosner .
In 2012, they created their own recording studio, "Studio KML", in an ancient school in
Rome as a meeting place for the musicians of their Foundation and the KML Recordings label. The first recording made here was the "Minimalist Dream House".
[23]
Personal lives
Katia's partner,
David Chalmin , is a composer, producer and singer/guitarist of the band Triple Sun. Katia was formerly married to English guitarist
John McLaughlin , and she was a member of his band in the early 1980s. Marielle is married to the conductor
Semyon Bychkov .
[24] The sisters still live together; they moved to
London in 1987, to a palace in
Florence in 1993, and since 2005 they have lived in a palace that belonged to the
Borgia family of
Rome .
Discography
Recordings as a duet
1969 : Olivier Messiaen, Visions De L'Amen
1970 : Bartok, Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion
1972 : Rachmaninov, 24 Preludes & Suite No. 2
1972 : Hindemith - Martinu
1979 : Marius Constant : Psyche
1980 : Gershwin, Rhapsody In Blue / Piano Concerto In F
1981 : Brahms, Hungarian dances
1982 : Scott Joplin, Gladrags
1983 : Liszt, Réminiscences de Don Juan
1984 : Rossini, Petite messe solennelle
1984 : Gershwin, An American in Paris
1985 : Bizet, Fauré, Ravel
1987 : Stravinsky, Petrouchka / Concerto For 2 Pianos
1987 : Gershwin, I got Rhythm - Music for Two Pianos
1988 : Bernstein, Symphonic dances and songs from West Side Story
1990 : Love of Colours
1990 : Dvorak, Slavonic Dances Op. 46 & 72
1991 : Encore !
1993 : España !
1994 : Tchaikovsky, Piano fantasy : music for two pianos
1996 : En blanc et noir - Debussy Album , including
En blanc et noir
2001 : Brahms - Tchaikovsky - Debussy (compilation album)
2003 : Piano Fantasy (compilation album - 6 CD box)
2006 : Maurice Ravel
2007 : Stravinsky / Debussy
2007 : Schubert / Mozart
2009 : Erik Satie
2010 : The New CD box
2011 : Gershwin-Bernstein, Rhapsody in Blue - West Side Story
2011 : Nazareno
2013 : Minimalist Dream House
2014 : Sisters
2016 : Invocations
2017 : Love Stories
2018 : Amoria
Recordings with collaborators
1981 : Gershwin's songs with
Barbara Hendricks
1984 : Prokofiev, Peter and The Wolf and Saint Saëns, Le Carnaval des animaux with
Itzhak Perlman and the
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
Zubin Mehta
1985 : Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue with the
Cleveland Orchestra conducted by
Riccardo Chailly
1985 : Bartók, Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion; Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra with the
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by
Simon Rattle
1988 : John McLaughlin, The Mediterranean Concerto Tracks: Brise de Coeur, Montana, Two Sisters, Until Such Time, Zakir
1989 : Poulenc, Concerto for 2 Pianos with the
Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by
Seiji Ozawa
1989 : Mozart, Piano Concerti with the
Berlin Philharmonic conducted by
Semyon Bychkov
1990 : Mendelssohn / Bruch, Piano Concerti with the
Philharmonia Orchestra
1997 : Carnival with
Elton John ,
Madonna ,
Paul Simon ,
James Taylor ,
Sting ,
Tina Turner , among others, ...
2008 : De fuego y de Agua with
Mayte Martín
2009 : Katia Labèque Shape Of My Heart
2016 : Double Concerto For Two Pianos And Orchestra with the
Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by
Gustavo Dudamel
2016 : Summer Night Concert with the
Vienna Philharmonic conducted by
Semyon Bychkov
Filmography
Bibliography
References
^
Jean-Pierre Thiollet , 88 notes pour piano solo , « Solo de duo », Neva Editions, 2015, p.97.
ISBN
978-2-3505-5192-0
^
"Katia and Marielle Labèque interviewed with their parents in 1969 (in French)" . Archived from
the original on 2013-01-12. Retrieved 2012-12-01 .
^
"Olivier Messiaen / Katia Et Marielle Labèque - Visions De L'Amen" . Discogs.com . 22 January 2023.
^
"Concerto of Luciano Berio, INA archive" . Archived from
the original on 6 January 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2012 .
^
"Biography of Katia & Marielle Labèque" . Official website. Retrieved 20 December 2011 .
^
"The world's leading classical music channel" . Medici.tv .
^
"Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Rattle Katia & Marielle Labèque [Haydn & Mozart]" . Classicalsource.com . Archived from
the original on 2011-11-16. Retrieved 2012-12-01 .
^
"Les soeurs Labèque et Simon Rattle, trio historique - Actualité Culture sur Free.fr" . Archive.today . Archived from
the original on 25 December 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2022 .
^
"Kult-Konzert mit Kängurus" . Der Tagesspiegel Online .
^
"Summer night concert 2016" . September 30, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2017 .
^
"Music review: LA Phil premieres Richard Dubugnon's 'Battlefield' " . Latimesblogs.latimes.com . November 12, 2011.
^
"Agotada la primera edición del disco 'Nazareno' interpretado por la OSCyL" [The first edition of the album 'Nazareno' performed by the OSCyL is sold out]. Elmundo.es . 2012-01-26. Retrieved 2023-09-05 .
^
"MUSIC REVIEW" .
Los Angeles Times . January 19, 2009.
^
"Premiere of Philip Glass Concerto for two pianos and orchestra, written for Katia and Marielle Labèque" . December 2, 2015. Archived from
the original on February 19, 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2017 .
^
"Cervo, the festival and magic" . La Mia Liguria . Retrieved 8 July 2022 .
^
"Le sorelle Labèque aprono il 48° Festival Internazionale di Musica di Cervo (sisters opened the 48th festival of Cervo)" . Riviera24.it (in Italian). 10 July 2011.
^
"official website concerts Labèque sisters" . Labeque.com . Retrieved 8 July 2022 .
^ Berryman, Steven (November 29, 2011).
"50 Years of Minimalism: Rock 'n' Rollers @ Kings Place, London" . Icareifyoulisten.com .
^
"Music review of William Duckworth creative work" . Archived from
the original on January 10, 2013.
^
"Kalakan present his first album co-produced by Labèque sisters' KML recordings (in basque)" . Archived from
the original on November 2, 2013.
^
"Madonna, poulette basquaise" . Libération.fr . July 12, 2012.
^
"Labeque sisters signed by Deutsche Grammophon" . classiquenews.com (in French). Retrieved February 19, 2017 .
^
"France Musique" . Radio France . Archived from
the original on November 4, 2012.
^
"Milestones for conductor Semyon Bychkov" .
Financial Times . 2 January 2009.
Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2010 .
External links
International National Artists Other