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Question: How many hands does it take to play a piano? Answer: If you're talking about the Duo Campion-Vachon's exquisite piano playing on Noel Pianissimo, four hands!

Although holiday albums of instrumental piano music are quite common, this offering is unique on several levels. First, and most importantly, Canadian pianists Guy Campion and Mario Vachon play all four hands on one piano, allowing for a layered presentation with sophisticated textures beyond what you might expect. Second, this recording is exceptionally generous, with 25 tracks lasting nearly an hour, and covering a broad range of traditional Christmas classics, both ancient and modern. In addition, Campion provides the innovative, lovely arrangements, including two very special variations of "Sainte Nuit" ("Silent Night") and "O Holy Night."

Noel Pianissimo literally means Christmas in a very soft or quiet tone, and that describes this album beautifully. Campion and Vachon are best known for their classical repertoire, and that expertise is well in evidence here. Their technical skills are superb, yet the playing conveys much more than that. The Duo Campion-Vachon has cleverly broken this holiday set into several different sections. The first five tracks (designated the "Christmas Echoes" album segment) convey a most gentle, melancholy sweetness. The next album portion features carols done "in the style of" Bach, Busoni, Liszt, etc. These 12 tracks are more spirited, but never harsh, and provide a bouncy enthusiasm that will make you smile. The fingering becomes quite complex, but the Duo have everything under perfect control. The third album segment (entitled "Chorals") consists of three tracks played in with traditional, and relatively simple, splendor. The final five cuts are elegant, more involved, treatments of some of my most favorite holiday numbers, including "The Coventry Carol" and "Ukranian Carol."

Such a splendid CD! Noel Pianissimo would provide a gorgeous backdrop for a broad number of holiday settings, from contemplating the hearth in an otherwise darkened living room to dining with friends at a Christmas gathering. Everything about this recording is first-class. If you are a piano aficionado, then put your two hands on this four-handed performance and transport yourself to holiday music paradise. Sweet.

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2005)

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From the liner notes:

The Campion-Vachon Duo: Four Talented Hands Four hands playing on a single piano being their distinctive feature, the Canadian pianists Guy Campion and Mario Vachon are as weIl known for their interpretation of a classical repertoire as they are for their own arrangements by Guy Campion. These musical arrangements include the works of Astor Piazzolla, George Gershwin, Nino Rota, as weIl as various transcriptions for piano for four hands accompanying silent film such as "The Miracle of the Wolves", from the music of Henri Rabaud, prepared at the request of the French Ministry of Culture and presented at the Louvre Auditorium.

Trained at Laval University in Quebec, the duo has excelled in several countries, displaying their talentduring various festivals. They have been acclaimed at the International Piano Festival in Montreal, at the Saint Riquier Festival on the invitation of Mickaïl Rudy and at the Sarajevo Winter Festival where they performed on two occasions. Praised by the international press, the Campion-Vachon duo has played in several well-known concert halls, including the Salle Gaveau in May 1999, where the audience was able to appreciate arrangements of Piazzolla's tangos.

Duo Campion-Vachon

Noel Pianissimo

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Track List