Âge Tendre

Known as "Monsieur 100,000 Volts" for his dynamic stage presence, Gilbert Bécaud was one of France's most popular singers during the 1950s and '60s, and enjoyed a career of more than four decades in show business. Bécaud is best known for his 1961 smash "Et Maintenant," which became a pop standard in the English-speaking world after it was translated as "What Now My Love." He was also an occasional film actor, a highly successful songwriter with over 150 credits, and an ambitious composer who completed a Christmas cantata, an opera, and a Broadway stage musical.

John Kitchen - uniquely familiar with Edinburgh's internationally acclaimed collections of early keyboard instruments - turns his attention to the world's most famous harpsichord, the Taskin harpsichord. The reign of Louis XV was the period during which the harpsichord gained its greatest popularity in France, and this glorious 1769 instrument by Pascal Taskin would have been the preferred choice of any composer. Here its opulent lushness is captured in the ideal acoustics of Scotland's oldest concert hall, St Cecilia's Hall. The Hall is also home to the Raymond Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments, which houses the Taskin harpsichord. The combination of instrument, venue, programme and performer creates a unique listening experience.