François Dompierre celebrated his 80th birthday on Sundaye anniversary. This disc by pianist Louise Bessette pays him a just and sensitive tribute. The musical arch is built around two unforgettable melodies: The soul to tendernessas a clever paraphrase, and A fairy taletaken from Alice Tremblay’s Odyssey. There were obviously many nuggets in Dompierre’s musical repertoire for the cinema. Among them, we find his taste for pastiches. Even if Jokes on a prelude by Bach is the most conspicuous, there are many others. François Dompierre the improviser has a field day in Second-hand happiness, a work for two pianos where Louise Bessette plays a score while he improvises on the second piano. The disc benefits from a complicity that does not date from yesterday, since in 2016 Dompierre had composed the concertango grosso dedicated to Bessette. This tribute also shows that inspiration is something other than these simplistic little songs that are flourishing these days. With Dompierre, it’s a celebration of the spirit.
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