Denver Oldham - Jacques Ibert: Piano Works (2003/2019)

The life and multi-faceted career of Jacques Ibert is as fascinating and colorful as the music he composed. By the age of four he knew music better than the alphabet. It was about this time that he began to study the piano and the violin. His mother was Manuel DeFalla's second cousin; it was partly at DeFalla's suggestion that Ibert auditioned for the Paris Conservatory. In 1910, he was accepted as an auditor. By 1911, he was admitted to study harmony, counterpoint and fugue, and composition and orchestration. Among the other students in the class, the most notable were Darius Milhaud and Arthur Honegger. To earn a living while he was in school, Ibert gave music lessons, played piano for silent movies and composed "popular" songs and dance music, some of which were published under the pen-name "William Berty." An international artist of the first rank, Denver Oldham has established himself world wide as an accomplished pianist. To date, he has performed on twelve extensive concert tours of Europe and two in South America, as well as numerous appearances in the United States.