Albums “Autograph” and “Le poète du piano”: two versions of the media self-representing the French pianist Alexandre Tharaud

Statement of the problem. The French pianist Alexandre Tharaud (b. 1968) occupies a prominent place in modern performance arts. His 42 recorded albums attract the attention of researchers who analyze his work as a phenomenon of media culture. In this perspective, the traditional approaches to the analysis of performance (stylistic, interpretive, comparative etc.) do not make it possible to cover the integrity and originality of its phenomenon precisely as figure adopted in the modern media environment. Therefore, the article offered a perspective on the work of A. Tharaud in the media space as self-representation. In 2013 and 2020, A. Tharaud recorded two albums, “Autograph” (2013) and “Le Poète du piano” (2020), which in terms of their composition are radically different from the pianist’s other albums. A comparison of these albums allows to present them as two different versions of the pianist’s self-representation and to give a model for the modern novice performer to form his own self-representation in the media space. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of the article is to compare A. Tharaud’s albums “Autograph” and “Le Poète du piano” for tracing the references connecting them, to reveal the specifics of the compositions of the albums and to determine the model of the artist’s self-representation in the modern media space. For the first time, such an attempt is undertaken, which determines the novelty of this study. Hence, the comparative method of the research was used, supplemented by biographical one to identify the events of the pianist’s career that influenced the specifics of his album compositions, sociological one to determine the positions of the performer’s work in the media space, and representative one to reveal references (according Wartofsky, 1979) between performing versions and the objects of the performer’s experience. Analysis of recent research and publications, studying the theory of self-presentation in interdisciplinary discourse, in particular in social networks (Šlerka, & Merunkova, 2019; Hollenbaugh, 2021; Chandler, & Munday, 2011; Pires, 2017; Thagard, 2014), the mass media system as a platform for promoting self-representation (Yezhizhanska, 2017; Luhmann, 2017) allowed us to understand the main regularities of the functioning of the mass media as a modern system. The musical material that is the analytical basis of this research was used: audio and video recordings by A. Tharaud presented on the resource YouTube. Results. The long-term (1997–2013) presence of A. Tharaud in the media space is summarized by two pianist’s albums, “Autograph” (2013) and “Le Poète du piano” (2020), including both, the new records, and the works of past years, which were already heard in his previous collections, and it is that connects both the albums. Combination of two presented in the study schemes of references that arise between these albums demonstrates A. Tharaud’s focus on the main works for him and makes possible to comprise the individual aspects of his media self-representation, due to references to such objects (the works) and experiences, which since 1997 – the beginning of the artist’s active releases into the media space – especially resonate with his individuality. Concentration on this small number of works, reinterpretation of which continues during the entire creative path of A. Tharaud, as evidenced by traced references, reveals the main preferences of the pianist. Conclusion. Alexandre Tharaud writes on the first pages of his autobiographical book "Montrez-moi vos mains" (Tharaud, 2017: 9): “Isn’t life what happens to oneself”? Tharaud is a pianist of an intellectual nature, whose virtuosity not technic only, but of a different order – it is characterized by subtle gradations of shades, intentions for deep expression and detailing of imagery in small forms, therefore his selfrepresentation avoids the pathos of such concepts as “Virtuoso works”, works of “The best”. Thus, the 2013 album “Autograph” is a sketch for the large-scale album of 2020, and the “Autograph” is not a collection of virtuoso works, and “Le Poète du piano” is not a collection of “the best” tracks. For a pianist, two albums are more of what “he recognizes himself in”. Media self-representation, which opens up through references to experience, gives such a model, which was formed in the space of intentions and interests of A. Tharaud, his intimate, his refined and beloved.