French School Pianists play French concertos
rec. 1930-1949
APR 7319 [3 CDs: 223]

It has been fascinating to follow as APR unveiled eleven volumes of their French Piano School edition; nineteen pianists in hugely contrasting styles, interpretations that range from the sublime to the what did I just hear?, names hitherto consigned to encyclopedias brought to life and more familiar pianists revealed in complete recordings, all gathered from over a half a century of recording. Now we have a twelfth volume adding more chapters to the story as well as ten new pianists and some real rarities with the inclusion of concertante works by Albert Périlhou and Marguerite Roesgen-Champion.

Disc one is devoted to three concertos by Camille Saint-Saëns, two of which have previously appeared on CD, the second with Jeanne-Marie Darré and Alfred Cortot’s recording of the fourth. Darré (1905-1999) was a pupil of Marguerite Long and Isidor Philipp at the Paris Conservatoire and went on to teach there from 1958. Philipp worked on the Saint-Saëns concertos with many of his pupils but it was Darré who played them all, notably playing all five on one evening when she was 21. She was partnered then by Paul Paray who joined her in the only one she recorded in the 78 era, the second in G minor which has emerged as the most popular. She delivers an absolutely stunning performance with gorgeously plotted degrees of tempi, ramping up the tension whether that is in sparkling figuration of the first movement development or the lilting filigree of the scherzo. Technically it remains one of the most accomplished, her solid Parisian training shining through but it is also balanced with an assured nod to its lyricism. I found her bar-by-bar long-short, long-short bass notes in the allegro scherzando’s second theme a little unusual but it does not detract in any way. Alfred Cortot is of course as familiar a name today as it was when he recorded the C minor concerto with Charles Münch in 1935. While he struggled technically in a work like Stravinsky’s Danse russe, not surprisingly unissued at the time, his early recordings of Saint-Saëns’ études demonstrate the command he had of the keyboard and this, his penultimate foray into Saint-Saëns’ music, is every bit as stunning as Darré’s G minor. There is superb orchestral support from Münch and his anonymous orchestra and the interplay with Cortot is captivating. The final allegro is taken at a great lick and at one point one thinks that Cortot can’t possibly fit in all the semiquavers –  the triplets that preceded them were already swift – he can be given the benefit of the doubt as he covers it so well and all the other runs, arpeggios and other assorted fleet fingerwork, tools of the French school at its best, are astonishing.

My personal favourite of the concertos has probably always been the fifth which I first heard on Aldo Ciccolini’s set. The forces here are all Japanese with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Felix Weingartner pupil Hisatada Otaka partnering Kazuko Kusama in the first ever recording of the piece; as the booklet notes a strange distinction for a 78-rpm set made in wartime Japan! Kusama, who became Yasukawa when she married, was the Japanese born daughter of a diplomat who was at the French Japanese embassy. She studied in Paris having been raised there from age two and was taught by Lazare-Levy from the age of twelve; she was awarded a Premier Prix age fifteen. Even upon her return to Tokyo during the war she continued to champion French music including premiers of concertante works by Franck, Fauré, Saint-Saëns and Ravel and recordings of the complete piano works of Debussy. As a professor at the Tokyo University of the Arts she influenced a whole generation of Japanese pianists. Her Egyptian concerto is effective if not quite as gripping a performance as the two pianists we’ve just heard but apart from a couple of bars of muddy ensemble it is a good first recording. For me it is particularly apt having Japanese forces performing it considering that some of the writing in the atmospheric middle movement sounds far more oriental than north African.

Disc two opens with the lovely Fantaisie in A flat by Charles Widor played by Marcelle Herrenschmidt, daughter of an Alsatian Banque de France officer. She studied in Isidor Philipp’s class and had what the booklet describes as a solid career, going on to teach at the Lyon Conservatoire. Her name has disappeared rather and she is only otherwise represented on disc by the Saint-Saëns Scherzo that she recorded with Philipp, the dedicatee of the present work. I have a soft spot for this piece with its easy lyricism, consistently imaginative and varied figuration, transformation of themes that Liszt would have admired and some fiercely difficult but effective writing for the instrument. If it has a fault it could be a teeny bit more condensed but the material is lovely and I am very happy to luxuriate in its warm romanticism. Based on her wonderfully fluid playing here it is a shame that Herrenschmidt didn’t record more. I was excited to see that Albert Périlhou’s Fantaisie was also included and was ready to welcome it as another neglected treasure but alas it is not though it is pleasant listen.  It opens with a stately hymn-like melody but quickly moves to more stirring music. A third jaunty theme enters as a gentle scherzo in the orchestra with accompanying arabesques in the piano and it is this that is perhaps the most attractive part of the piece. In standard fantasy style the themes return and are developed slightly though only the scherzo music is really memorable. It was premiered by Louis Diémer who has made an appearance in this series as has Lucien Wurmser who plays it for all its worth in this apparently private release from 1939. I note that Périlhou’s second fantaisie for piano and orchestra, recorded in 1936 by Georges de Lausney, is being released by Sakuraphon – nothing for nine decades then two turn up at once!

Fauré’s Fantaisie has never challenged the popularity of his early Ballade. It was dedicated to Alfred Cortot who gave its official premiere in May 1919 though it had been played at a Fauré Festival in April of that year by Fauré’s companion Marguerite Hasselmans. Cortot was unhappy with the relative lack of brilliance in the piano part and it is true that the work’s difficulties are not apparent and the piano is much more integrated into the orchestral timbre than in a standard concerto. Its music is highly effective however from the sunny opening through to the quirky dotted tritones of the allegro and the two Jeans – pianist Doyen and conductor Fournet – play to the strength of its close instrumental and orchestral collaboration.

Poulenc’s Aubade or Concerto Chorégraphique for piano and eighteen instruments had been premiered in June 1929 and it was only six months later that Poulenc recorded it. Its eight sections represent dawn to dawn in the company of Diana, Goddess of the Hunt; the hunt itself and Diana’s companions serve as brief distractions to the ultimate despair and lonely solitude of the Goddess. Originally conceived as a ballet, the intended venue limited the ensemble that could be used but this was no barrier to Poulenc’s skill and it is a work full of colour and imaginative use of timbre interwoven with a piano part that is as virtuosic as any concerto. Just take the opening movement, a stentorian opening fanfare that leads to a flamboyant toccata for piano solo in which Poulenc displays dazzling fingerwork; definitely not the bourgeois amateur that Satie once considered him.

Marguerite Roesgen-Champion was born in Geneva, studying composition there with Ernest Bloch and Otto Barblan and piano with Maria Panthès, a product of the Paris Conservatoire. She went on to teach in Geneva before moving to Paris and making a successful career as a composer and performer; she was prominent in the revival of early music and performed at the harpsichord as well as writing works for the instrument including a Suite with orchestra that was played under Pierre Monteux. She recorded two of the three short movements of her Trois Pièces pour piano and string orchestra – the remaining movement is Village. She gave the premiere alongside Jane Evrard’s all female orchestra Féminin and the conductor on this recording is Marius-François Gaillard who featured as a pianist earlier in this series (APR6025). They are modest in length, lasting just under six minutes and written in a gentle neo-classical style. The idyll features a flowing piano melody over a simple, undulating string accompaniment while the passepied is a bubbly and light-hearted dance; these two pastoral movements are a delightful discovery and hopefully the current exploration of female composers will bring some more of her music to light. Equally delightful and life affirming are the concertino and concerto by Poulenc’s friend Jean Francaix. Francaix was a product of Isidore Philipp’s teaching and his easy and fluid playing shines out of the pages of these pieces. The concertino, not much longer than the Roesgen-Champion pieces and accompanied by the ill fated Leo Borchard, a student of Hermann Scherchen’s, is in four movements, a courante like prélude, a slow movement which bears a resemblance to the timbre of Roesgen-Champion’s idyll but with a slower melody over the strings, a comic menuet that opens with bassoon and trumpet and  a playful finale in quintuple time. The concerto is also in four movements and opens with an infectious vivo that is more developed than its counterpart in the concertino. The second movement brings a rare moment of reflection and nostalgia to proceedings with some lovely dialogue between the soloist and various wind instruments. The third movement is once more a minuet with a comic slant though it has a more serious side and features some interesting limping rhythms. The finale reminded me of Poulenc in its choice of rhythms though Francaix doesn’t copy his friend’s harmonic twists. It is conducted by his teacher Nadia Boulanger to whom the concertino is dedicated.

Composer and pianist in the next item are unfamiliar to me though I have at least heard the name Henri Sauguet. The pianist in Sauguet’s first piano concerto is Arnaud de Gontaut-Biron, yet another pupil of famed Louis Diémer and scion of one of the oldest surviving French family, dating back to 1147 I see. He had a successful career though later chose to concentrate on administering the Marguerite Long competition and acting as a goodwill ambassador to UNESCO; all this is from the helpful booklet as the internet appears to be singularly lacking in biographical material. Sauguet’s A minor piano concerto had been premiered in April 1936 by a pianist from earlier in this collection, Marcelle Herrenschmidt and was also played by Jeanne-Marie Darré before Gontaut-Biron made this recording in 1943. It is under the direction of Roger Désormière, with whom Sauguet and Henri Clicquot-Pleyell founded the School of Arcueil in honour of Erik Satie. Satie introduced Sauguet to Diaghilev who fostered his talent for ballet writing which makes up the most familiar section of Sauguet’s output. The opening movement contrasts bustling toccata like writing with more enigmatic music that hovers around a close chromatic group of notes and features a piano and solo violin duet. An uneasy barcarolle follows, its theme played by the orchestra while the piano adds curious little arabesques. Stormier waters approach with some dazzling writing for the soloist and the movement concludes with soloist and orchestra swapping their opening roles. The finale is a dazzling, madcap tarantella – there are even hints of Rossini’s La Danza in there – and is a real workout for the pianist, a challenge that Gontaut-Biron rises to with aplomb aplenty and consummate skill.

The set ends with the two very popular concertos by Maurice Ravel though I wager neither performance here is well known. The third recording of the Concerto in G major, after those by Marguerite Long (to be found on APR6039 review, review, review) and Leonard Bernstein, was by Émile Passani, yet another pupil of Isidore Philipp who had a successful career, not only as a pianist; he was a composer, arranger, teacher and choral champion who went on to form his own chorale. He had worked with Ravel which suggests a certain authenticity about his performance and with the concerto firmly in the repertoire the ensemble and the quality of the orchestral playing is better. Passani has a firm handle on the technical elements and is relaxed in the early meno vivo though he is stiffer and more earthbound than Long in the first movement cadenza. His pacing in the adagio assai is similar to Long’s, elegant, unaffected and with a lovely even tone; the tempo edges forward a little and Passani is more relaxed once the orchestra joins. He matches Long’s tempo in the finale and orchestra and soloist enjoy what is a thrilling account. Ravel may have written the piano concerto in D as a commission for the one armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein but after a heated argument with the Austrian pianist concerning unauthorised changes that he made to the concerto he began to work on the piece with Poulenc’s childhood friend and Eduard Risler pupil Jacques Février. Wittgenstein did eventually play the piece as written but once his exclusive performance rights expired in 1937 it was to Février that Ravel turned to give the official premier of the concerto in its official form as he wrote it. The first recording was by Swiss-French pianist Jacqueline Blanchard in 1938 followed in 1939 by Alfred Cortot in his two hand version which Ravel detested. Février’s recording, conducted by Charles Münch who was with Février when he premiered it and who also partnered in the Cortot recording, appeared in 1942 and it is a wonderful performance. There is a cool suavity to his playing that avoids high drama and the closing cadenza is beautifully shaped. There is the occasional edgy ensemble in the scherzo where Février pushed the tempo a little too much against the trumpet’s blues melody but it is nothing dramatic and this is a fine account.

This series continues triumphantly and magnificently. The transfers by Mark Obert-Thorn are excellent – I used to have the Widor and Cortot Saint-Saëns on a Dante release/Lys release but I seem to hear much more detail here. More Cortot is on the way but I hope that if it continues further that more Roesgen-Champion could be included; her recordings include concertos by Mozart, Haydn, Bach and a couple of movements by Johann Christian Bach.

Rob Challinor

Previous review: Philip Harrison (July 2025)

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Contents
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22
Jeanne-Marie Darré
Orchestre des Concerts Colonne/Paul Paray
rec. 24 February 1948, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris

Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor, Op. 44
Alfred Cortot
Unnamed Orchestra/Charles Munch
rec. 9 July 1935, Abbey Road Studio No 1, London

Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 5 in F major, Op. 103 ‘Egyptian‘
Kazuko Kusama
Tokyo Symphony Orchestra/Hisatada Otaka
rec. 1943, Tokyo

Widor: Fantaisie in A flat major, Op. 62
Marcelle Herrenschmidt
Orchestre Philharmonique de Paris/Charles Munch
rec. October 1938, Paris

Périlhou: Fantaisie Pour Piano et Orchestre
Lucien Wurmser, 
Orchestre des Concerts Colonne/Victor Gallois
rec. 1939, Paris

Fauré: Fantaisie in G Major, Op. 111
Jean Doyen
Orchestre Lamoureux/Jean Fournet
rec. on 12 December 1949, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris

Poulenc: Aubade, FP 51
Francis Poulenc
Orchestre des Concerts Straram/Walther Straram
rec. 20 and 22 January 1930, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris 

Roesgen-Champion: Trois pièces pour piano et orchestre à cordes – Idylle and Passepied
Marguerite Roesgen-Champion
Orchestre des Concerts Marius-François Gaillard/Marius-François Gaillard
rec. 30 May 1941, Studio Albert, Paris

Françaix: Concertino pour piano et orchestre
Jean Françaix 
Berliner Philharmoniker/Leo Borchard
rec. 26 February 1937, Beethovensaal, Berlin

Françaix: Concerto pour piano et orchestre
Jean Françaix 
Orchestre Philharmonique de Paris/Nadia Boulanger
rec. 9 February 1937, Studio Albert, Paris

Sauguet: Piano Concerto No. 1 in A Minor
Arnaud de Gontaut-Biron
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra/Roger Desormiere
rec. 29 June 1943, Studio Albert, Paris

Ravel: Piano Concerto for the left hand in D minor
Jacques Février
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra/Charles Munch
rec. 8 October 1942, Studio Albert, Paris

Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major
Émile Passani
Orchestre des Concerts Colonne/Jean Fournet
rec. 28 October 1947, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris