Françoise Choveaux (1953-)
24 Préludes pour piano

Martin Ivanov, piano

Françoise Choveaux studied at the Conservatory of Lille, the École Normale de Musique in Paris, the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, and later at the Juilliard School in New York. She is a composer, but also a pianist, who connects with a musical tradition dating back to the 19th century. After returning from the Juilliard School to France in 1981, Françoise Choveaux settled in a small farmhouse in Killem, surrounded by the wind-swept fields of East Flanders. The powerful nature and vast landscapes are an essential part of her life, and thus each of her scores is either inspired by travels or inner emotions, or is directly connected to a literary or visual work. The 24 Preludes by the title “Paysages” (Landscapes) for Piano, interpreted by the Bulgarian, Vienna-based pianist Martin Ivanov, were composed between 1981 and 2024 and are love songs to nature, inspired by the earthy elements of Flanders; she describes the sky, haunted by strong, contrasting winds, the radiant sky, and the black, fertile earth.