Paul Georges . Alterego Construction

Tonight was Yann Tiersen’s night to strut his stuff. Place d’Youville was home to the French musician’s talent for the night and (most) of the fans seemed very interested to discover and to savor what Yann and company had to offer.

“With his whimsical, melancholy music, Yann Tiersen has become a sought-after composer, not only for his soundtrack work, but in his own right. Borrowing from French folk music, chanson, musette waltz and street music, as well as rock, avant-garde, and classical and minimalist influences, Tiersen’s deceptively simple style has been likened to Chopin, Erik Satie, Philip Glass, and Michael Nyman. The Paris-based composer became popular outside his native country for his score to Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie, but like most seemingly overnight successes, he had been working for years before the film’s success brought him international acclaim.”

Tiersen has been critically acclaimed for his work done on the soundtrack to Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain. His contribution to the soundtrack is mostly interpretation of classical style pieces (so I’ve heard from a very fiable source, merci Bianca et Simon). However, Tiersen surprised many by portraying a more contempory side of his musical prowess on stage tonight. Spectators were treated to an arrangement of guitar, bass guitar, drums, violin, accordeon and experimental piano. Tiersen seemed to have taken many onlookers off guard; I get the impression that many were expecting to hear the soundtrack to Amélie be recreated live on stage. That, however, was not the case. We caught a glimpse of several people leaving the audience earlier than expected… such a shame. I didn’t happen to know Tiersen’s work very well so I had absolutely no expectations towards tonight’s show. I’m very pleased with Tiersen’s performance and I know that I will definately be giving him a listen in the near future. Excellent gig overall.

This year’s festival is turning out to be one hell of an event. Hopefully it will keep on growing in order to allow curious listeners to discover truely genuine music of all genres for several years to come. Two shows down, but do not fray, the best is yet to come! BSS and Feist will be performing tomorrow night! If you happen to be in Québec City tomorrow (the 10th of July), make sure you catch those two gigs!

Le Soleil’s review here.