By Paul Sullivan
“Ravel has always had a special place in my heart,” smiles Victor le Masne from his home in Los Angeles. “His harmonies and the way he orchestrates have always moved me, even from a young age. My parents played a lot of music around the house, including Ravel, Boulez, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder… and Ravel’s music just got under my skin and feels deeply connected with my inner child, perhaps because he is so emotionally clear despite the very sophisticated harmonies. In my twenties, when I moved to Paris, my father gave me a mixtape of music that we used to listen to. Ravel was on there of course, and since I had no television or furniture but did have a cassette player, I listened to it a lot. But this time I listened differently, more analytically, as a composer and musician…”
Following in the footsteps of his flautist father (Xavier le Masne), who also directed several music conservatories, Victor studied piano at the Regional Music Conservatory, continuing at the American School of Modern Music and the jazz class of the Music Conservatory Nadia et Lili Boulanger in Paris. But his musical destiny was not immediately linked to the classical realm; after meeting fellow student Pierre Leroux at the Music Conservatory, he formed Housse de Racket in 2005, a project that became a pioneer within the French Touch house music scene.
After touring with fellow French acts such as Phoenix, working with producer Philippe Zdar from Cassius as well as international acts such as Cat Power, Victor branched out on his own. His more varied and sensual eponymous debut appeared in 2020, and featured collaborations with Metronomy and Chilly Gonzales; the follow-up, May 20th (2022) took a surprisingly mellow jazz turn. In between, Victor worked as a session and live drummer for the likes of Chilly Gonzales, Air and Metronomy, produced and co-composed albums for Gaspard Augé and Sébastien Tellier, and remixed the likes of Parcels, Foals and Jungle.
Yet none of this impressive activity prepared anyone—including Victor himself—for the phone call he received in 2020, asking him if he could rearrange the French national anthem, “La Marsellaise” for the Tokyo Olympic Games closing ceremony. He made such a good job of it that he was then hired to serve as the musical director for the ceremonies of the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics in Paris, directing a new version of the hugely successful French rock opera Starmania along the way.
For the 2024 Paris event, the full scale of Victor’s musical talents and love of diversity was on display with a multi-genre flurry that swung between rap and Ravel, techno and heavy metal, and included musical celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Céline Dion, Gojira and Jean-Michel Jarre, among others. The spectacle won him the Victoire de la Musique (Best Concert of the Year), a Grammy (Best Metal Performance for his track “Mea Culpa (Ah! ça ira!)”)—and the Légion d’Honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honour), the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit.
“My life completely changed with that phone call,” laughs Victor, an energetic 43-year-old. “I mean, I grew up in a family of musicians. Not just my father, but my brother, uncle and grandfather were all involved in music in some way, and I had an openness to all types of music thanks to that. But after quitting school at 16, I climbed the musical ladder very gradually until this massive acceleration. It has been truly incredible as well as sometimes stressful but I am so very grateful that I’ve been given the freedom to do what I’ve wanted. The most important lesson I have learned along the way is to think about what I want to communicate before each project, to ask myself: what is the story? I used to rely on the music to do the talking, but now I understand that you need to have clear ideas and visions too. For this Ravel release, I was very clear about what kind of emotion I wanted to bring before I even played a note on the piano.”
The release of Ravel Recomposed happily marks the series’ twentieth year (see the first in our three-part retrospective here) as well the official 150th anniversary of the French composer. It couldn’t have come at a better time, and there couldn’t really be anyone better for the job given Victor’s musical talents and his long-standing love of the composer. Indeed, he had already re-arranged some of Ravel’s compositions for the Paris games.
“One aspect of Ravel’s work I really wanted to explore was his potential role as the O.G. of the French Touch sound. I really gave some thought as to why certain chords are considered French Touch, and analysed Ravel’s scores and chord progressions to see what connections I could find. And then I took a different approach, depending on each composition. For “Boléro”, for example, I kept the melody and changed the chord progression and orchestration. But I also wanted to add vocals. I am a huge fan of Stevie Wonder, especially his 1970s work and in particular the vocal production—and the same goes for Prince, Kate Bush and the Cocteau Twins. I wondered who I might find, but the answer was literally right in front of me—Christine and The Queens [Rahim Redcar] is not only one of my favourite artists, but I had worked with him during the Olympics.”
“Boléro” is just one of the surprises on the 12-track album, which also includes a reversal of the main melody in “Lever du jour” and the appearance of a CS-80 “bladerunner” synthesiser on “Adagio assai” (from Piano Concerto in G Major). Each recomposition comes with its own style, pace and detailed rearrangement, taking the listener through sweeps of classical, downtempo, French Touch house and more. As well as playing piano, synths and percussion himself, Victor also worked with DG artists Julius Asal and Camille Thomas, and as an additional personal touch, the first digital single “Le jardin féerique” was the inspiration behind the album’s beautifully floral cover image, designed by his wife, Jill Caytan.
“I am very grateful to DG’s Christian [Badzura] for coming to me for this project and for encouraging and guiding me. It is an honour, since the label has been a major source of inspiration for many decades in my family. It is also very exciting because once again it has allowed me the freedom to take risks. I think that’s important—not only in life but in the arts too. Things can go wrong of course, but when they work out it’s even more rewarding…”
