Catherine Collard (piano)
The Complete Erato, EMI Classics and Virgin Classics Recordings
rec. 1973-1991
Erato 5419 796263 [7 CDs: 352]
Catherine Collard (1947-1993), the daughter of the equally distinguished pianist André Collard, died at the age of 46. She is known largely for two tranches of recordings – those for Erato, which are boxed here, and a sequence of concertos and other works for Lyrinx, made in 1988-89. Of the Erato recordings it was Schumann that dominated, and he remained the composer with whom she was most associated. These Erato recordings cover a near three-decade period from 1973 to 1991.
The first two discs were recorded very forwardly in the Church of Notre-Dame des Roses, in Grisny-Suisnes, possibly because the engineers were attempting to mitigate any church acoustic. The Fantaisie shows Collard’s almost votive affinity with Schumann, with digital clarity allied to an expressive intensity that never descends into mere sentimentality nor splintering in fortes. Her acute, perceptive playing in the Davidsbündlertänze, reveals anintensely alert mind., responding to each vivacious change of mood, to each quicksilver glint – whether witty or frivolous – ending in a perfectly calibrated final two pieces where she finds an island of refined intimacy.
The First Sonata and Kinderszenen share disc two. Her introduction to the Sonata is measured and she doesn’t replicate either Richter or Annie Fischer’s more intense, terse involvement. Nevertheless, she plays the Aria of the second movement with great refinement and her precision and purpose are undoubted. More truly convincing is Kinderszenen where, once again, she is (deliberately) deliberate in tempo yet delicate in nuance in the opening panel. That she has fleet fingers is clear – when she wants to employ them – but, above all, there is a deft, slightly understated and unindulged approach. This, once again, reaches its apex in the final two sections where Der Dichter spricht is sung so slowly that it never wants to end. Passion irradiates Sonata No.2, which is, one feels, the sonata that speaks to her more fully. Its Andantino is beautifully accomplished. and Collard generates real intensity in the finale. The Arabeske and Three Romances – played with great beauty and athleticism – show her in ardent form whilst Papillons offers opportunities for her vivid sense of characterisation.
None of the Schumann discs has undergone any further restoration so it’s a case of ‘as you were’ for the first three discs. For the sonata recordings with her violinist collaborator, Catherine Courtois, for reasons I can’t fathom, Art & Son have been invited to remaster the original tapes. Why not the first three in that case or indeed the final disc, of d’Indy and Satie? Was it originally intended to release a Violin Sonata set?
Courtois and Collard also recorded, for Sonopresse, a Baroque album of Corelli, Tartini, Vitali and Veracini, so maybe that will be remastered one day. The violinist was associated with Les Musiciens de Paris and also recorded with harpsichordist Blandine Verlet. She was an accomplished, rather small-scaled but precise player, less of a personality than Collard. It was interesting going online to read Tim Page in the New York Times writing in 1983 of their ‘fully realized joint effort’ and how Collard’s ‘incisive stylistically charged playing’ married well with the ‘soft-edged elegance of Miss Courtois’ violin’. This is pretty much how it comes across in the studio recordings. The Lekeu-Franck pairing was recorded in 1979. The Lekeu is an admirable performance, neatly bisecting the classic recordings of Bobesco-Gentry (quite measured) and Ferras-Barbizet (very fast) and sounding not unlike the Grumiaux-Varsi. Their performance is metrically flexible with a beautiful, songful approach and strong march themes in the finale. Coupled with it is the Franck – clean, clear and avoiding smeary phrasing.
The fifth CD is devoted to the Schumann Violin Sonatas recorded in the Salle Wagram, Paris in 1980. Once again, Collard’s control of textures in No.1 is deeply impressive, and this contrasts with Courtois’s precisely calibrated but circumscribed tonal responses. Nothing here is over-emoted. If you want to know where Elgar’s Violin Sonata was gestated, lend an ear to the opening movement of Sonata No.2. The slow movement has a gracefulness not often heard in more explicitly romanticised approaches and this discretion will either appeal or not, as the case may be. I happen to prefer more heft.
One unsuccessful disc is that of the Prokofiev Sonatas. Both these performances are fast to the point of glibness. Clearly, these tempi were joint decisions and Collard is admirable in what she does but I don’t feel that this was their joint repertorial strength. Perhaps Erato detected that Courtois’ clarity geared her into neo-classical directions that might prove fruitful in Prokofiev but I fear that, if so, those hopes were not realised in the performances.
The last disc is fortunately a winner. D’Indy’s Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français, Op. 25 “Cévenole” features the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Marek Janowski who went on to re-record the work for Pentatone with Martin Helmchen. If your go-to recording here is Munch with Nicole Henriot-Schweitzer, then you might care to listen to this evocative, colourful recording in which Collard proves every bit as sensitive and fleet-fingered a soloist. Finally, there are the two piano four-hands Satie recordings Collard made with Anne Queffélec in October 1990. The 3 Morceux en forme de poire can also be found in Erato’s Satie box (called ‘Tout Satie!’) but the recording of La Belle Excentrique in that box is played by Ciccolini and Tacchino. Both performances here are deeply musical and colouristically alluring. They formed a perfect team.
The booklet contains very recent remembrances of Collard from Anne Queffélec, Nathalie Stutzmann, with whom Collard recorded Schumann and Fauré, and Antoine Palloc. There’s also a two-page biography from Marc Trautmann. This original jacket reissue is a worthy memorial to a driven musician who had a strong affinity with Schumann, but whose command of the repertoire ranged well beyond. Let’s hope someone can box her Lyrinx recordings too.
Jonathan Woolf
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Contents
CD 1
Schumann: Fantasie in C major, Op. 17
Schumann: Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6
rec. April-June 1973, Église Notre-Dame des Roses, Grisny-Suisnes, France
CD 2
Schumann: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 11
Schumann: Kinderszenen, Op. 15
rec. February 1974, Église Notre-Dame des Roses, Grisny-Suisnes, France
CD 3
Schumann: Piano Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22
Schumann: Arabeske in C major, Op. 18
Schumann: 3 Romances, Op. 28
Schumann: Papillons, Op. 2
rec. March 1978, Salon Honnorat, Cité internationale universitaire, Paris
CD 4
Lekeu: Violin Sonata in G major
Franck: Violin Sonata in A major
Catherine Courtois (violin) and Catherine Collard (piano)
rec. March 1979, Salon Honnorat, Cité internationale universitaire, Paris
CD 5
Schumann: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105
Schumann: Violin Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121
Catherine Courtois (violin) and Catherine Collard (piano)
rec. December 1980, Salle Wagram, Paris
CD 6
Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80
d’Indy: Violin Sonata No. 2 in D major, Op. 94a
Catherine Courtois (violin) and Catherine Collard (piano)
rec. June 982, Salle Wagram, Paris
CD 7
d’Indy: Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français, Op. 25 “Cévenole”
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France/Marek Janowski
Satie: Trois Morceaux En Forme De Poire, piano 4-hands version
Satie: La belle excentrique, piano 4-hands version
Anne Queffélec (piano) and Catherine Collard (piano)
rec. October 1990, St Martin’s Church, East Woodhay, UK (Satie) and May 1991, Studio 104, Maison de la Radio, Paris (d’Indy)
