Pierre Charial

Pierre Charial (* 1943 in Lyon ) is a French barrel organ player who developed the instrument for new music and jazz .

Pierre Charial 2014 in the Stadtgarten Cologne

Life

Charial completed a degree in piano, bassoon and composition at the conservatory in his hometown. In 1975 he ended his career as a professional classical musician after discovering the barrel organ in 1974. In 1983 he founded the Musique Mécanique Paris Association with the aim of researching, creating and performing mechanical music. Charial plays a 42-note instrument with 156 pipes and three registers, a special design by the barrel organ builder André Odin. Furthermore, he punched cards himself with works not only by Johann Sebastian Bach , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Ludwig van Beethoven or Jean Françaix , but also by Luciano Berio , Iannis Xenakis , Conlon Nancarrow and György Ligeti , to order these works alone, with Françoise Terrioux or in To bring chamber ensembles to the performance. Marius Constant wrote the first concerto for barrel organ and symphony orchestra for him . A Pièce de rechange pour orgue mécanique was created in collaboration with Martial Solal . For his debut record Hors Gabarit (1985) Charial adapted compositions as varied as Chick Coreas Spain , Mike Mainieris Oops or a waltz by Igor Stravinsky . Since the 1990s he has also worked with Michael Riessler (with whom he appeared at the 1993 Donaueschinger Musiktage ), Sylvie Courvoisier , Jean-Jacques Birgé, Gérald Genty and Michel Godard .

Discographic notes

• Hors Gabarit (Label Nocturne, 1985)
• Michel Godard: Aborigène (Hopi, 1993)
• György Ligeti: Mechanical Music (Sony, 1995)
• Sylvie Courvoisier: Y2K (Enja, 1999)
• Sabine Meyer : Paris Mécanique (Marsyas, 2004)
• Nicolas Montier invite Pierre Charial: Swing de barbarie ( Frémeaux et Associés , 2011)
• Michael Riessler: Big Circle (Intuition, 2012; German Record Critics' Award )

Web links

• Web presence
• Brief portrait. (PDF; 153 kB)
• HJ Schaal: detailed portrait.