Michel Legrand

Michel Legrand
(b Paris, 24 Feb 1932). French composer and arranger. A musical prodigy, Legrand enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11.

He attended from 1943 to 1950, studied conducting with Nadia Boulanger and harmony with Henri Chaland, and graduated as a first-prize winner in composition. In the 1950s, he became a popular band leader, singer and songwriter, also writing and conducting ballets for Roland Petit. A brilliant orchestrator, he won a prize in 1953 from the Académie Charles Cros for his arrangements for a recital recording by Catherine Sauvage. In 1954, he became the band leader and conductor for Maurice Chevalier, and travelled with him to New York. That same year he issued the first LP, I Love Paris. In the late 1950s his arrangements for the album Legrand Jazz (Col., 1958) featured the playing of Miles Davis, Ben Webster and John Coltrane, and he also began writing film music, thereafter dedicating himself almost exclusively to the medium. His first important collaborations were with some of the masters of French cinema, including Godard, Carné and Jacques Demy, with whom he worked on eight films. He achieved his greatest success with Demy’s Les parapluies de Cherbourg (1964), which brought worldwide recognition to both the director and the composer. In the late 1960s, Legrand moved to the United States and for the next three decades divided his efforts equally between France and Hollywood, not always with the same measure of success.

Legrand’s career has alternated between contemporary subjects and period pieces, and he has used many different styles in his scores. From an early age Legrand’s style leaned towards light popular music and jazz, and he often emphasizes thematic unity, though many scores are often overshadowed by a central popular theme. Les parapluies de Cherbourg, with lyrics by Demy met with considerable critical acclaim. The director’s vision was to make a musical film in a completely different vein from the Hollywood musical tradition, a ‘mixture of poetry, colour and music’. The film is entirely sung, in free verse, the direction was regulated by the music, and all aspects of the productions were subordinate to the musical rhythm. The score contains a wide range of styles, from haunting ballads such as I Will Wait For You, to jazz, tangos, mambos and several light popular melodies. Thereafter, Legrand had a number of successes including The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Summer of ’42 (1971), and his jazz score for Lady Sings the Blues (1972), the biographical film of Billie Holiday.

In recent years, Legrand has struggled to adapt his craft to contemporary musical styles. His popular idiom, well-received in the 1960s and 70s, subsequently lost some of its appeal, and has often been modified to reflect evolving aesthetics, though not always successfully. His recent achievements include the Streisand film Yentl (1983), the jazz score for Dingo (1992), co-written with Miles Davis, and the sweeping, dark music of Les misérables (1996). He has been nominated for Academy Awards for his contributions to Les parapluies de Cherbourg, Les demoiselles de Rochefort, The Happy Ending, Pieces of Dreams, Best Friends, The Thomas Crown Affair, Summer of ’42 and Yentl, winning Oscars for the last three. He is the son of musician and film composer Raymond Legrand (b 1908) and brother of singer Christiane Legrand (b 1930).