Russian destinies in Paris. A century at the Rachmaninoff Conservatory, by Erwan Barillot and Arnaud Frilley: the scores found

“Musical conversation is the only one that can be listened to at doors without risking being indiscreet. » Luckily, those at the Rachmaninoff Conservatory are full of surprises. Erwan Barillot transcribed them to better retrace the history of this 100-year-old institution, born from the desire to preserve Russian culture in Paris, this lost paradise of refugees from the October 1917 revolution. Formed under the impetus of former teachers of the conservatories of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, the music school is distinguished by the prestigious names of those who taught there, performed there or supported it : Prokofiev, Chaliapin, Glazunov, Koussevitzky, Lifar…

It was by getting his hands on a century of miraculously preserved archives that Arnaud Frilley, director of the conservatory and co-author of the work, made it possible to tell the story of the hundreds of lives shaped by this true cultural center. Among other things, the famous fate of the Gainsbourgs…