Alain Lefèvre
Canadian pianist Alain Lefèvre is a musical institution in his home province of Quebec. He is one of the best-selling classical artists in the province, and he has gained widespread attention for giving concerts for children in schools and hospitals: these have brought him into contact with some 250,000 children. Lefèvre was born in Poitiers, France on July 23, 1962 but grew up mostly in the Montreal area in Quebec. His father was a clarinetist, and other members of his family were musical. Lefèvre took his first lessons at age five, shortly after his family's move to Canada, and one brief year later he had already won the first of an eventual nine first prizes at the Canadian Music Competition, and given his debut recital at Quebec City's Grand Théâtre. At nine he won the Heintzman Musical Competition and was featured by the Montreal Star newspaper as a "star of tomorrow." Lefèvre demurred at characterizations of himself as a child prodigy, however, insisting in an interview quoted by the Canadian Encyclopedia that "nothing in my career was easy. I never was a 'skyrocket' pianist. Every step was tough." He returned to France for advanced studies, first with Jeanne-Marie Darré and Lucette Descaves, and then, from 1979 to 1983, at the Paris Conservatory with Pierre Sancan. After a 1980 first prize at the Concours International Alfred-Cortot in Milan, his career was launched. Lefèvre toured with Christian Ferras in 1982 and joined a major tribute concert to Ferras after that artist's suicide.
Lefèvre has performed concertos with top orchestras in Canada (the Montreal, Québec, and Toronto Symphonies), the U.S. (the Detroit Symphony, the Houston Symphony, and the National Symphony in Washington), Europe (the Orchestre National de France, the Hamburg and Stuttgart Symphonies), Britain (the Royal Philharmonic and the London Mozart Players), and beyond (the China Philharmonic, the Malaysian Philharmonic, the Moscow Virtuosi). He has a vigorous recital career that has involved commissions of new works from Henri Dutilleux, John Corigliano, and several French Canadian composers. Particularly notable has been Lefèvre's recording career, which began with a 1994 performance of Corigliano's Piano Concerto with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra on the Koch International label. He has also recorded for the CBC label and for Analekta, where he released The Bounds of Our Dreams with Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra in 2018.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
17 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 4 Op. 40 (Original 1926 version) - Scriabin: Prometheus, The Poem of Fire, Op. 60
Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Alain Lefèvre
Classical - Released by Analekta on 20 Mar 2012
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Paris Memories
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 10 Mar 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
My Paris Years - French Music for Piano
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 12 Apr 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Opus 7: Préludes
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 19 Feb 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
My Paris Years - French Music for Piano
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 12 Apr 2019
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
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Mathieu: Concerto de Québec & Works for 2 Pianos
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 14 Feb 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Op. 7: Preludes - Aux portes du destin, Pt.2 "pour mon ami Imad"
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 15 Jan 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Op. 7: Preludes - Force fragile, Pt. 2
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 16 Oct 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Franck & Lekeu: Sonates - Mathieu: Ballade, Fantaisie
Chamber Music - Released by Analekta on 10 Mar 2009
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Op. 7: Preludes - En deux temps, Pt. 1
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 11 Dec 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Paris Memories - Franck: Prélude, Fugue and Variation: I. Prelude
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 27 Jan 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
CADENZA - Three centuries of keyboard music (Claude Debussy - Fryderyk Chopin - Ludwig van Beethoven)
Classical - Released by CBC on 1 Jul 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Paris Memories - Debussy: Rêverie
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 17 Feb 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Corigliano: Concerto For Piano & Orchestra
Alain Lefèvre, Pacific Symphony, Carl St. Clair
Classical - Released by eOne Music International Classics on 20 Aug 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Op. 7: Preludes - Mati, Pt. 2
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 24 Jul 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo