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Richard Clayderman – Ballade Pour Adeline (partition, sheet music)

Richard Clayderman

Richard Clayderman, born Philippe Pagès, was born in 1953 in Paris, France. He grew up next to his parents and his sister. At the age of six, he received an old piano from his grandfather, with which he began to practice with his father, who was a music teacher, accordion at the music school in Romainville. Just as he quickly learned to speak his native language, Richard was amazed at the skill with which he played the keys of the musical instrument, and within two years he won a local competition.

At the age of 12, he was admitted to the Superior Conservatory of Music in Paris. Four years later, he won first place in a national piano competition. His future as a classical pianist seemed imminent, but he decided to put an end to the idea because he did not conceive that image of himself. He wanted to be something different, so he joined a group of friends and formed a rock band. All the income they earned was invested in the equipment.

But fate had planned everything to make Clayderman a world piano star. When his father is seriously ill, Richard has to take a job in a bank and in the evening he devotes himself to music by accompanying show business professionals.

A year later, he devoted himself entirely to music and accompanied greats like Michel Sardou, Thierry LeLuron or Johnny Halliday. The radical change in his way of life occurred in 1976, when he took part in an audition for Olivier Toussaint and Paul de Senneville, who had worked with the Delphine record company.

It was then that his producers decided to put an end to the difficulty of pronouncing his real name, Philippe Pagès, by changing it to the surname of his grandmother and since then he presents himself as Richard Clayderman.

‘Ballade Pour Adeline’ became his first hit in Spain, followed by Germany, France, South America, Japan, Australia and the UK, selling 22 million copies at the time. From 1978, Clayderman’s career blossomed internationally, becoming one of the longest-serving musicians in the world, with 200 performances a year.

His melodies do not fall below 800 titles, for which he received 63 platinum records and 263 gold records. In recent years he has worked alongside pop music legends such as Bryan Adams and Elton John.

Curiosities about CLAYDERMAN

• HIS WORST NIGHTMARE ended up in front of a massive audience and can’t remember a single note of the melodies in his repertoire. He woke up drenched in sweat.

• HE HAS A PRIVATE LIFE, despite the 150 to 200 presentations he makes a year. Clayderman says he enjoys spending time with his family, taking walks with his wife and son in the woods or on the beach, when it’s not crowded.

• PICK UP SON from school and take him to basketball lessons.

• ENJOY LIFE, when you know that despite getting up early to board a plane, you will have time to stroll on the beach or visit a beautiful park. He also wakes up happy when he knows he’s going to start working on a new piece of music, and when he gets the sound he wants.

HIS NICKNAME is Phiphi, which is what his closest friends call him.

HE CAN’T RESIST DESSERTS despite the fact that he pays great attention to his diet because he is keen to maintain his weight.
HE FEELS BAD about not having the ability to speak multiple languages, which he considers very useful for his career.

• ABOUT HIS PIANOS, he especially remembers that he had three at the same time. Now he only has one large one in one room of his house and a few electric pianos in other rooms, which is very useful to him because the sounds are similar to acoustics and they give him the advantage of practicing day or night without disturbing others. others because it adjusts the volume.

• ENJOY YOUR AUDIENCE when you see there are parents with their young children, children, piano students, teenagers who love classical music and grandparents who have been loyal fans throughout their career.

HE DOESN’T LIKE TO PLAY in front of people who don’t like the music he makes because he considers that it can also be a torture for this audience.
HE GREW UP WITH MUSIC because his father was a piano teacher, and he can’t remember a day without music at home.

• HE WANTED TO BE A TENNIS CHAMPION, so at the age of 30 he decided to learn and play with some regularity. Feel admiration for the champions of this sport.

• DESCRIBE YOURSELF EMOTIONALLY as quiet, shy and reserved. He doesn’t like going to discos, nightclubs or bars; He prefers to stay at home with his family. You need a calm environment to balance your energy and then transmit it in your concerts. He doesn’t like to talk loudly and is rarely irritated. He considers himself a romantic person.

I MAKE MUSIC WITH A PIECE OF WOOD If I were on a desert island without a piano close at hand, I would also try to make percussion with different materials. Admire those who make folk music with a wooden flute or pieces of glass.
LIVE IN LOVE OF LIFE because he assures that to be romantic is to appreciate the beauty of the sky, the sea, nature and all that it radiates beauty.

• MUSIC FOR LOVE, is the phrase with which Clayderman describes his material, aware that he has heard it in elevators, supermarkets, stores, airplanes, in the background during a phone call, or that some vehicle drivers have told him says they listen to relax when stuck in traffic; even babies have been formed while their music plays. That’s why he calls it love music and nothing pleases him anymore.

• PRINCE OF ROMANCE is the title given to him by the former first lady of the United States, Nancy Reagan, when they met during a gala concert at the Waldorf Astoria, New York.

« Forever Love »

‘Forever Love’ is the title of Clayderman’s new work, which brings together unpublished pieces and adaptations by artists far removed from his style, such as the British Ed Sheeran and Coldplay.

If anything has characterized the music of Richard Clayderman, it is its versatility, especially since his planetary success ‘Balada para Adelina’, in 1977. A very simple melody which has sold more than 22 million copies in 38 country.

45 years later, this classically trained musician is still in disbelief at this huge success.

‘I was very surprised. One day, the composer Paul de Senneville asked me to adapt his “Ballade pour Adelina” to the piano. We said to ourselves: ‘let’s see what comes out’, he recalled in an interview.

Clayderman performed over 2,000 concerts throughout his career, recorded over 1,400 songs, and sold over 90 million albums in total.

Clayderman is preparing to present his new album in Latin America, the United States, Canada and China.

He started playing when he was five years old. Her father was a piano teacher and taught in the living room at home.

‘I was naturally drawn to it. He gave me the basics and I entered the conservatory at the age of 12,” he commented.

After the success of ‘Balada para Adelina’, he came to play thirteen times at the prestigious Pleyel music hall in Paris.

“I have always had detractors. Classically trained musicians still don’t understand it, except those who accompany me on stage,” he explained.

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Discography
Albums studio

Richard Clayderman (alias Ballade pour Adeline, 1977)
A Comme Amour/Les Fleurs Sauvages (1978)
Rêveries (1979)
Lettre à Ma Mère (1979)
Medley Concerto (1979)
Les Musiques de l’Amour (1980)
Rondo Pour un Tout Petit Enfant (1981)
Christmas (1982)
Rêveries No. 2 (1982)
Couleur Tendresse (1982)
Les Rêves d'Amour (alias A Dream of Love, 1983)
Le Premier Chagrin d’Elsa (1983)
Italie Mon Amour (1984)
The Music of Love (1984)
Cœur fragile (1984)
Concerto (avec le Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 1985)
Divorce à Hollywood/Irreconcilable Differences (soundtrack, 1985)
From Paris with Love (1985)
Les Sonates (avec Nicolas de Angelis, 1985)
Hollywood and Broadway (1986)
Romantic (1986)
Eléana (1987)
Songs of Love (1987)
A Little Night Music (1988)
Deutsche Volkslieder (avec Schöneberger Sängerknaben, 1988)
Quel Gran Genio Del Mio Amico – Richard Clayderman Interpreta Lucio Battisti (1988)
Romantic America (1988)
Zodiacal Symphony (1988)
The Love Songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber (1989)
Amour Pour Amour (avec Berdien Stenberg, 1989)
Il Y A Toujours du Soleil Au-Dessus des Nuages (avec James Last, 1990)
My Classic Collection (1990)
The Fantastic Movie Story of Ennio Morricone (1990)
Anemos (1990)

Concert Albums

En Concert (1981)
A Pleyel (avec Nicolas de Angelis, 1983)
Brasil Tour ’86 (Brazil, 1986)

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