Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
12 Études Op.10
12 Études Op.25
Piano Sonata No.3 in B Minor Op.58
24 Préludes Op.28
14 Waltzes
Alfred Cortot (piano)
rec. 1931-43
APR 6046 [2 CDs: 154]
This is the most recent of APR’s long-running ‘The French Piano School’ releases and is a twofer priced ‘as for one’. Other than the Sonata No.3, which is a pre-war recording made in London, the Études, Préludes and Waltzes were all recorded in wartime Paris and are the only solo works Cortot recorded in France and constitute a much less well-known body of recordings than his ubiquitous 1930s traversals. Comparison can readily be made with his other recordings of these works from the 1920s and 30s and indeed from the very late 1957 LP of Op.28. The fine 1926 recording of Op.28 and the 1933-34 recordings of Opp. 10 and 28 and the 14 Waltzes offer the pianist at his most extrovert but these Parisian sessions offer hardly less colour, or wit and are still remarkably virtuosic. For all the jibes at Cortot, he is seldom troubled technically. There are many memorable things here and those who have hitherto not heard the wartime recordings should hurry to do so, no matter the duplication involved.
However, there is something else to be said for this release and that’s the 1931 Sonata recording, which needs to be distinguished from the much-better known recording from two years later, recorded in Abbey Road. The earlier inscription is tremendously involved and involving, witty, lucid, tonally rich and captivating in its total effect. It’s a huge shame it’s been partially eclipsed by that slightly later recording. It stands on its own terms as one of the most ardent and beautiful performances of this sonata on disc.
Now for the transfers, which have all been carried out by Andrew Hallifax using discs from the collection of pianist Malcolm Binns, admired in particular for his advocacy of British music. As some may know, Binns amassed one of the greatest collections of piano 78s in private hands. Fortunately, such elite collectors insist on top quality copies with quiet surfaces. All these recordings can also be found in Warner’s 40-CD Cortot edition. The Sonata transfers are about comparable but the other works sound decidedly better in Hallifax’s transfers. One reason is that when he set down the Études, Cortot recorded them in a way that would prove economic to contemporary purchasers, so they were largely recorded in four (or so) minute sides in a non-consecutive fashion ie No.1 was followed by 4, then 3 and 5, followed by 2 and then 7 and so on. Warner doesn’t preserve this arrangement and as APR notes, the consequence of restoring the consecutive order is that abrupt track endings result, as they indeed do in the Waner transfers. I also strongly prefer Hallifax’s sonic work which preserves some surface noise but which is warmer and ‘cellistic’ as distinct from the rather brighter glare of the ‘violinistic’ work of Art et Son for Warner. There is also a little shatter and brittleness in some of Warner’s work that’s not present in APR’s (try Op.10 No.3).
Conclusion? If you’re a Cortot collector, you should obviously have the Warner box. APR’s release offers very fine transfers of the often-overlooked Sonata recording as well as superior ones of the relatively overlooked Parisian sessions. With fine annotations – which includes a list of Cortot’s unpublished Parisian recordings – this twofer is certainly strongly recommended.
Jonathan Woolf
Previous review: Rob Challinor (October 2025)
Recording dates
May 1931 (sonata), November 1942 (études), December 1942/February 1943 (préludes), May 1943 (waltzes)
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