Alain Lefèvre's third album of his own compositions is more of his "incurable romantic" music, which borders on the loungy, glittery piano playing of
Liberace or on overly relaxing spa Muzak. It is almost self-indulgent in the way waves of notes swell and recede with emotion and in how it is often melancholy or dreamy. What saves it from categorization as easy listening is
Lefèvre's seriousness about his musicianship and the fact that the pieces are very personal to him.
Lefèvre's pieces do have a conscious structure to them. Three of the pieces are, in effect, character pieces or mood paintings in the form of preludes, just as
Debussy's Preludes were in the form of character pieces and mood paintings. Comme en famille! is a happy, playful daydream of a waltz. The final Au bout de mes rêves is rondo-like in form.
Lefèvre is also particular about the texture or density of the music and about its tonality, all of which affect the mood of a piece. Petite mère begins and ends lovingly simply and gently, but in the middle, it is thick with grief for
Lefèvre's dying mother. He uses quickly echoing notes and tremolo to evoke wind blowing through trees in Anemos. La Callas almost constantly modulates between minor and major, tonic and dominant, perhaps a reflection of the unsettled nature of
Maria Callas' life, while a brief quote from "O Mio Babbino Caro" rises above and shines out, just as her voice was a singularity in the operatic universe. In Lylatov he uses the modality of Satie and Jewish folk music to depict the couple he lived with while studying in Paris. Lylatov is one of two works here arranged for piano and string quartet, but performed by
Lefèvre and an ensemble of 12 musicians. The strings act as a reinforcement of ideas, rather than an accompaniment (another fact that prevents Fidèles Insomnies from being compared to a
Richard Clayderman album). Given the proportion of the sorrowful to the cheerful in the music, it would seem that there aren't enough good times in
Lefèvre's life. His notes on each piece are very personal, but not uncomforably intrusive, just as his playing doesn't sound as if it is for him alone. His music is a way of working out his feelings and communicating them with friends and family. It is hard to imagine anyone else playing
Lefèvre's works and doing it as effectively, just as it is hard to imagine that this album would appeal to a great many more than those who already know
Lefèvre or is a like-minded "incurable romantic."