Samson François (piano)
Concert Tours 1956-1962
rec. 1956-62
Meloclassic MC1084 [2 CDs: 138]

Samson François was born in Frankfurt though the family moved frequently due to his father’s work. San Remo in Italy was the next stop and this is where young Samson had his first lessons but it was in Belgrade that his talents grew and flourished. His early passion for the instrument was matched by a creative spark that produced a number of early compositions, several of which were included in a well-attended recital that the eight year old François gave in Bordighera in 1932. Once the family settled in Nice he enrolled at the conservatoire and soon made his first tour of Switzerland, now aged eleven. His education continued under Yvonne Lefébure in Paris and a week before his 13^th birthday he gave a recital that included such giants as the Bach Busoni Chaconne and Liszt Don Juan fantasy. After further studies with Marguerite Long he took first prize at the conservatoire and the following year played Liszt’s E flat concerto for his Parisian début. He had a successful and busy career though his playing divided critics; his impressive technique was acknowledged but his interpretations splintered opinion – over sentimental and over violent were just two comments. His rather rock and roll life-style led to a heart attack on stage in 1968 and a further attack ended his life in 1970 at the young age of 46.

I’m not sure what I was expecting from these performances but his Schumann concerto is not one to cause upset. He does not ramp up the virtuoso elements though he clearly has the measure of the piece and his line at the andante espressivo section of the first movement is beautiful. The Intermezzo is not the most charming I have hard and is occasionally somewhat literal but is still enjoyable. He seems to treat the opening eight bars of the finale as a call to arms, taking it at a steadier tempo before settling into his faster tempo in the ninth bar but again the playing is fine with  good backing from the Saarbrücken orchestra who do well to keep up with his sometimes rigorous playing; they seem to be expecting little ritardandi into new sections that don’t always materialise. His Chopin E minor concerto, with Carl Melles and the Radio-Luxembourg orchestra, is also mostly fine though I did notice a little more that he tends to play at rather fixed dynamic levels without much gradation; a 1949 review of a Wigmore Hall recital remarked that his pianissimo playing is exquisite, his fortissimo painful and there is little gradation between them. I can agree with that to a point; his pianissimos are indeed exceptional but there is no violence to his louder playing. Beautiful phrases abound though his figuration oscillates between supple and fluid on the one hand with rather four square playing sometimes finding its way in. The Romanze is a little faster than I am used to but not offensively so and the dislocation of hands that a Washington Post critic likened to Paderewski is only noticeable a little in the more passionate moments. The finale is perhaps the least successful movement for me; rather uninspired rhythms and somewhat lumpy bass lines, surges followed by slower speeds and a sudden impatient race to the finish in the final five bars that leaves the orchestra behind. Perhaps it is to make up for his extremely ponderous first entry in the first movement? As an encore he played Liszt’s transcription of Alabieff’s the Nightingale in a winning performance.

Disc two opens with the E flat concerto that had been a staple of his repertoire; there are three recordings in his discography. François has a good sense of the drama and every measure of its virtuoso elements and if he is occasionally scrappy – the energicamente cadenza in the slow movement is quite haphazard as are bits of the scherzo – it is his passion driving him forward, making for an exciting performance. Two solo recitals follow featuring the music of Debussy and Fauré recorded over two nights in February 1962. A selection of Debussy préludes first starting with Danseuses de Delphes taken at a tempo that actually makes them seem to leave their statue plinths and dance. He was a huge fan of jazz and improvisation and both Les collines d’Anacapri and la fille aux cheveux de lin seem to have an improvisatory feel to them. His sunken cathedral must have been quite overwhelming in close proximity and one can certainly feel the abyssal tolling and the depths engulfing the edifice. Puck’s dance is more impulsive than most I’ve heard with some surges of rhythm and while Debussy’s fireworks start off fairly gently the big guns come out at the end. I felt that François finds more colour in this music than in his concerto performances and the Fauré are no different. Fleet of finger if a little routine in the outer sections of the impromptu he comes alive in the passionate middle section. Three early nocturnes have some lovely playing too; the final thicker textured section of the B major is more impressive than the opening and he is suitably delicate at the end. The sinuous writing of the A flat major seems to suit him well and he sounds more relaxed and charming than he is wont to do elsewhere and this continues into two supple and luminous Debussy études, especially Pour les arpèges composés which has some of the most silken tone on the disc coupled with a puckish sense of humour.

François fans will find nothing new to his discography, unless perhaps it is the Fauré A flat nocturne but this is still a window on the short-lived pianist in his prime – he wasn’t yet 37 years old in the most recent of these documents – and you can hear a lot of the magic that brought him such regard, especially in the two recitals of French music. Presentation and sound are up to Meloclassic’s usual high standards.

Rob Challinor

Contents
CD1
rec. 19 February, 1956 Wartburg, SR, Saarbrücken (live recording)
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Piano Concerto in A Minor Op.54
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken
Rudolf Michl (conductor)

rec. 3 August, 1960 Théâtre Municipal, RTL, Luxembourg
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Piano Concerto No.1 in E Minor Op.11
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Le Rossignol S.250 air russe de A. Alabieff
Orchestre de Radio-Luxembourg
Carl Melles (conductor)

CD2
rec. 28 March, 1962 Victoria Hall, RTS, Geneva (live recording)
Franz Liszt
Piano Concerto No.1 in E Flat Major S.124
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (conductor)

rec. 8 February, 1962 Herkulessaal der Residenz, BR, Munich (live recording)
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Prélude No.1 Bk.1 Danseuses de Delphes
Prélude No.5 Bk.1 Les collines d’Anacapri
Prélude No.8 Bk.1 La fille aux cheveux de lin
Prélude No.10 Bk.1 La cathédrale engloutie
Prélude No.11 Bk.1 La danse de Puck
Prélude No.12 Bk.2 Feux d’artifice

rec. 9 February, 1962 Funkhaus, NDR, Hamburg (radio studio recording)
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Impromptu No.2 in F Minor Op.31
Nocturne No.2 in B Major Op.33 No.2
Nocturne No.3 in A Fat Major Op.33 No.3
Nocturne No.4 in E Flat Major Op.36
Claude Debussy
Étude No.8 Bk.2 Pour les agréments
Étude No.11 Bk.2 Pour les arpèges composés