Filming in Chambéry with Alexandre Tharaud

We did it!!! This weekend, we finally finished the filming of the music video for Alexandre Tharaud‘s own piano transcription of Prélude à l’après-midi d’un Faune by Debussy (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun). With Alexandre, we have been imagining and discussing about this project since the beginning of 2020, for almost half a year, throughout the pandemic and the lockdown, we have been working on it. The music was recorded during the lockdown, the choreography created by Wun Sze Chan through Zoom and rehearsals mainly done in a living room. It was challenging trying to find a nice place for the filming: an abandoned warehouse? Outdoor? An empty church? An intimate and old apartment?……

Many places were not available for booking due to the lockdown, and a lot of theatres, closed. Furthermore, as a self-funded project, choices were very limited. But in the end, we got very lucky. Around two months ago we went to Fécamp in Normandie to film a part of the movie near the cliffs. Weather was perfect just for the day of our filming, and the very next day it went back to the usual Normandie rainy weather. A piano store not far lent us a concert piano for free that we put in the field.

This weekend we were welcomed by Malraux Scène Nationale to film the rest of the movie. There we met the kindest stage technicians that I’ve ever worked with. For two whole days we filmed almost non-stop on the stage of the theatre. The team there helped us to set up the lights that we asked for, and a technician, named Serge, was there to help us changing the lightings during those two days. We will never be able to thank him enough for his patience, kindness and precious help.

What’s next? In the coming weeks I shall work closely with Raphaël Wertheimer, the producer of this film, for the editing. Then the final music video should be released by Warner Classics in October – November 2020.