Piano, violin, accordion and harp
“Piaf” was made for a ballet that the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation premiered with a great success, choreographed by Vasco Wellenkamp, taking on a tournée around many countries.
The great difference between the ballet’s music and this performance is that in the first one the three intermezzi from the piano where authentical Piaf songs.
It tries to tell the dramatic story of a genius woman mistreated by life - taking refuge in one of its rare delicacy samples - the hands of a boxer champion…
The references to Paris are obvious, as well as a time when the French music had a very important place in our culture.
They are episodical and small direct references of Edith Piaf’s melodies, and this kind of “musical biography” tries to personify several passages of a tough existence, often assaulted by an enormous solitude. And it seems to me that it is clearly expressed on the beginnings and the final parts of the violin and the accordion.