Catherine Collard (piano)
En Concert 1969•1970•1972
rec. various venues
Solstice SOCD414 [80]

This is a really personal tribute to Catherine Collard who died from cancer in 1993 aged just 46. The booklet contains an affectionate essay by her younger sister Marcelline who talks about their father André, a pianist who had studied with the likes of Alfred Cortot, Yvonne Lefébure and Nadia Boulanger, Catherine’s love of the piano and touches upon the successful career onstage and teaching that was blighted by her illness. There is also a transcript of an interview that Catherine gave on 22/12/1969 when she was 22, on the same day that she recorded the Mozart that opens this recital; she talks about her teachers, Yvonne Lefébure her taught her father and Yvonne Loriod. It was Yvonne Loriod who opened her eyes and ears to contemporary music and she speaks fondly of Loriod, Messiaen, his music and the romance she finds within that music. A sprinkling of photos from concert and family albums completes the booklet.

Her Mozart is poised and youthful; she balances its moods well from the brooding opening arpeggios and fateful repeated notes to the capriciousness and vigour of the answering phrases and light-hearted allegretto. In May of the following year she gave a recital at the Grand Théâtre, Bordeaux that included Beethoven’s Moonlight sonata and Brahms’ intermezzo in E flat minor. The recorded sound in the Beethoven emphasises the richness of her tone in the adagio sostenuto andher wonderful lyricism. A buoyant allegretto precedes a cleanly executed presto agitato. Her Brahms is youthful and if the feeling of desolation is not entirely captured – the notes surrounding the melody are a little too vivacious – she is triumphant in the huge central section. Two years later, almost to the day, she played a stupendous Davidsbündlertänze. It is technically dazzling, just listen to the fluidity of her lines in the opening Lebhaft, herleft hand in no.6 sehr rasch or the broad humour of no.8, but Collard is equally captivating in the many moments of intimacy. There is a hypnotic element to the slowly unfolding second piece and a simplicity of expression in no.5. With a good helping of capriciousness throughout this is a lovely reading and it is perhaps not surprising that she was offered the chance to record this work alongside Carneval, Papillons, Kinderszenen, the first two sonatas and other works for Erato in 1973/4, repeating several items for Lyrinx in 1988/9.

We have a chance to hear her with orchestra in Franck’s Symphonic Variations from a concert celebrating young interpreters in January 1970. The orchestral contribution is decent enough but in the later pages their rather stiff playing doesn’t match the supple virtuosity of Collard. She displays a maturity beyond her years in some deeply personal playing and I could listen over and over to the solo playing in the un pochettino ritenuto that interrupts the finale or the hushed stillness in the latter stages of the molto più lento. The applause is very well deserved as it is for the final piece here, French/Bulgarian composer André Boucourechliev’s Archipel IV. Born in Sofia he was a virtuoso pianist before he was a composer and settled in Paris in 1949 where he became Messiaen’s deputy at the Paris Conservatoire, presumably where Collard came across him. She recorded the piece for Phillips and the nebulous and improvisatory nature of the work becomes clear when you see that there are four version on that disc. In his Archipels, five in all for various combinations of instruments, Boucourechliev provides a framework of pitch relations and schemas or rules for other elements such as dynamics, tempo, phrasing, timbre etc.In the fourth, the only one originally for solo instrument, Collard has 14 pitch relations and 111 schemas to work from and creates a startling piano soundscape that while I confess it is not a piece that I am not particularly fond of it is undoubtedly a dazzling creation. Collard is fearless in her attack and commitment and offers pin-point clarity throughout from the most relentless, brutal playing to the most delicate.

This is my introduction to this marvellous artist and I am glad to have heard this vivid, stylish and larger than life playing.

Rob Challinor

Contents
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Fantaisie in D Minor K.397 (1782)
rec. 22 Dec, 1969
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Piano Sonata Op.27 No.2 (1801)
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Intermezzo Op.118 No.6 (1893)
rec. 4 May, 1970
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Davidsbündlertänze Op.6 (1837)
rec. 5 May, 1972
César Franck (1822-1890)
Variations Symphoniques (1885)
rec. 13 Jan, 1970
André Boucourechliev (1925-1997)
Archipel IV Op.10 (1970)
rec. 15 Jan, 1972