Pianist Nicole Narboni has always been something of a Francophile. She likes the food. The wine. The language. And the music.

So when a student's tip led her to the seldom-heard piano works of contemporary French composer Jean Francaix , Narboni was in her element.

"I think of the sound as being French, not like Debussy or Ravel, but, yes, French," she says. "His ability to create color, the way he creates color at the keyboard, is quintessentially French."

Narboni's discovery of Francaix's work for piano (the composer is better known for his woodwind compositions) has led to her fifth CD release: "The Solo Piano Works of Jean Francaix," featuring Francaix's vibrant, spirited and often humorous works.

"It has this 1930s and 1940s speakeasy kind of sound," Narboni says. "He did write serious music, but he preferred to find the humor in everyday life. So the cornerstone of the CD, and his music in general, is humor. It's nothing too serious; there's no message. It's fun to play."

Francaix, who lived from 1912 to 1997, wrote prolifically throughout his life, tallying up piano concerti, film scores, operas and ballets in his characteristically often-whimsical style.

The selections on Narboni's CD range from the heady swirling notes of the scherzo in "Piano Sonata" to the sweetly limpid meditation of "The Dreaming Child," a selection in "Music Before All Else: Ten Children's Pieces for Piano." And no, Narboni says, she can't choose a favorite.

"It's like when somebody asks me about composers," she says with a laugh, "I have several favorites."

Highlights, she concedes, are "Five Portraits of Young Ladies," which explore different feminine temperaments, from capricious to pensive; and "Five Encores," written with an oh-so-successful performer in mind. The "encores" escalate from a piece titled "To Entice the Audience," then go on to imagine an audience enraptured with the performer through the encores "For Romantic Ladies," "In Case of Success," "In Case of Triumph" and -- if the performance went really, really well -- "In Case of Delirium."

"The girls are just outrageous, but he captures the feminine spirit in them, how girls can be kind of silly," she says. "And in the 'Encores,' he's just having a grand old time. I don't mean to belittle the music, but it's as if he's saying, 'How ridiculous can we get? How bombastic can we be?"'

A senior lecturer in piano at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Music, Narboni rummaged through Paris in her hunt for Francaix's music, meeting with both his daughter and son.

The new CD, which also includes a short video clip, is dedicated to Narboni's parents, Gino and Charlotte Narboni, who have lived in San Antonio almost 30 years.

"They have been my anchor for a long time, my parents," she says. "I could not have done it without them."

© Copyright 2008, New York Times Syndicate