Yann Tiersen

Yann Tiersen (born 23 June 1970) is a French musician and composer. His musical career is split between studio albums, collaborations and film soundtracks. His music involves a large variety of instruments; primarily the guitar, synthesizer or violin together with instruments like the melodica, xylophone, toy piano, harpsichord, accordion and typewriter.

Tiersen is often mistaken for a composer of soundtracks, himself saying "I'm not a composer and I really don't have a classical background", but his real focus is on touring and studio albums which just happen to often be suitable for film. His most famous soundtrack for the film Amélie was primarily made up of tracks taken from his first three studio albums.

Biography and career

The early years: 1970–1992

Yann Tiersen was born in Brest in the Finistère département in Brittany in northwestern France, in 1970, into a French family of Belgian and Norwegian origins. He started learning piano at the age of four, violin at the age of six, and received classical training at several musical academies, including those in Rennes, Nantes, and Boulogne. In the early 1980s when he was a teenager, he was influenced by the punk subculture, and bands like The Stooges and Joy Division. In 1983, at the age of 13, he broke his violin, bought an electric guitar, and formed a rock band. Tiersen was then living in Rennes, home to the three-day music festival Rencontres Trans Musicales, held annually in December, which gave him the opportunity to see acts like Nirvana, Einstürzende Neubauten, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Cramps, Television, and Suicide. A few years later, when his band broke up, Tiersen bought a cheap mixing desk, an 8-track reel-to-reel tape recorder, and started recording music solo with a synthesizer, a sampler, and a drum machine.

On Tour (Yann Tiersen album)

On Tour is a live album by Yann Tiersen. It was originally released in 2006 and features songs from Tiersen's past albums as well as some previously unreleased compositions. The album is notable for having a different approach to Tiersen's musical style: the usual multi-instrumental ensemble was replaced with electric guitars and an ondes martenot, giving the music a fresh rendition.

On Tour was also released as a DVD.

Track listing

All music and lyrics are written by Yann Tiersen, except as noted.

CD release

Live in Europe 1993

Live in Europe 1993 (alternative title: On Tour MCMXCIII) is a live box set containing two concerts recorded by Deep Purple in 1993.

The first recording is from a show on 16 October at the Schleyerhalle in Stuttgart, Germany. The second is from a show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England on 9 November, which would be the final show Ritchie Blackmore did with Deep Purple in England.

The live album Come Hell or High Water from 1994 was recorded at this Stuttgart show. The Birmingham show was released on DVD as Come Hell or High Water in 1994.

The second concert was subsequently re-released in 2007 under the title Live at the NEC. Ian Gillan advised fans not to buy this release, describing the performance as one of the band's worst.

Track listings

All songs written by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice, except where indicated.

Live at Schleyer Halle (Stuttgart)

Disc one

On Tour

On Tour may refer to:

On Tour (Ernest Tubb album)

On Tour is a live and studio album by American country singer Ernest Tubb, released in 1962 (see 1962 in music).

Track listing

Personnel

References