THE EARLIEST FRENCH PIANO RECORDINGS

APR7318

3CDs 

COMPACT DISC 1 (77’59)

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Gramophone & Typewriter Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—26 June 1904
1. SAINT-SAËNS Africa: Fantasie for piano and orchestra Op 89† (2.53)
2. SAINT-SAËNS Valse mignonne Op 104 (2.33)
3. SAINT-SAËNS Valse nonchalante Op 110 (3.16)
4. SAINT-SAËNS Andante sostenuto Piano Concerto No 2 in G minor, Op 22† (3.58)
5. SAINT-SAËNS Rapsodie d’Auvergne for piano and orchestra Op 73† (1.55)
†abbreviated as piano solo
Gramophone Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—24 November 1919
6. SAINT-SAËNS Rêverie du Soir (à Blidah) Suite Algérienne, Op 60/3 (3.47)
7. SAINT-SAËNS Marche Militaire Française Suite Algérienne, Op 60/4 (3.42)
8. SAINT-SAËNS Première Mazurka Op 21 (3.03)
9. SAINT-SAËNS Valse mignonne Op 104 (2.30)
10. SAINT-SAËNS Prélude from Le Déluge Op 45 (arr. for violin & piano) (3.36)
with GABRIEL WILLAUME (1873–1946) violin
11. SAINT-SAËNS Élégie Op 143 with GABRIEL WILLAUME (4.34)
Gramophone Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—26 November 1920
12. SAINT-SAËNS Havanaise Op 83 with GABRIEL WILLAUME (8.12)

Louis Diémer (1843–1919)
Gramophone & Typewriter Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—1904
13. DIÉMER Grande Valse de Concert Op 37 (2.35)
14. DIÉMER Le Chant du Nautonier Op 12 (3.18)
15. GODARD Valse No 5 (Valse chromatique) Op 88 (3.10)
16. MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Spinning Song’ Op 67 No 4 (1.46)
17. CHOPIN Nocturne in D flat major Op 27 No 2 (3.43)
Gramophone & Typewriter Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—1906
18.DIÉMER Le Chant du Nautonier Op 12 (3.08)
19.DIÉMER Grande Valse de Concert Op 37 (2.48)

Vincent d’Indy (1851–1931)
HMV, Hayes: acoustic recordings—7 June 1923
D’INDY Tableaux de voyage Op 33
20. No 4: Lac vert  (3.01)
21. No 8: Halte, au soir (1.56)
22. No 6: La poste (1.00)
23. No 9: Départ matinal (3.28)
24. D’INDY Poème des Montagnes, Op 15: No 2 Danses rythmiques  (3.49)

COMPACT DISC 2 (80’29)

Raoul Pugno (1852–1914)
Gramophone & Typewriter Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—April 1903
1.HANDEL Gavotte & Variations from Suite in G major, HWV441 (2.45)
2.D SCARLATTI Sonata in A major K24 (L495) (2.07)
3.PUGNO Impromptu-valse (2.45)
4.CHOPIN Waltz in A flat major Op 34 No 1 (2.50)
5.LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No 11 S244/11 (4.17)
6.WEBER Rondo brillante in E flat major Op 62 (2.40)
7.MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Hunting Song’ Op 19b No 3 (1.54)
8.PUGNO Sérénade à la lune (2.35)
Gramophone & Typewriter Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—November 1903
9.CHOPIN Nocturne in F sharp major Op 15 No 2 (3.36)
10.MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Spinning Song’ Op 67 No 4 (1.32)
11.MASSENET Valse folle (dedicated to Pugno) (3.01)
12.CHABRIER Scherzo-valse No 10 from Pièces pittoresques (3.36)
13.PUGNO Valse lent No 1 from Trois Airs de Ballet (3.22)
14. CHOPIN Impromptu No 1 in A flat major Op 29 (3.17)
15. CHOPIN Berceuse in D flat major Op 57 (3.39)
16. CHOPIN Marche funèbre from Piano Sonata No 2 in B flat minor, Op 35 (4.09)
17. MENDELSSOHN Scherzo in E minor Op 16 No 2 (2.09)

Aimée-Marie Roger-Miclos (1860–1951)
Fonotipia recordings, Paris: acoustic recordings—September 1905
18. GODARD Mazurka No 4 from Suite de danses anciennes et modernes, Op 103 (2.54)
19. CHOPIN Waltz in D flat major ‘Minute’ Op 64 No 1 (1.59)
20. MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Spinning Song’ Op 67 No 4 (1.56)
21. MENDELSSOHN Rondo capriccioso Op 14 (abridged) (3.41)
22. LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No 13 S244/13 (vivace only) (1.59)
23. LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No 11 S244/11 (andante sostenuto to the end) (2.28)
Fonotipia recordings, Milan: acoustic recordings—15 November 1906
24. CHOPIN Nocturne in F sharp major Op 15 No 2 (3.35)
25. CHOPIN Waltz in C sharp minor Op 64 No 2 (3.17)
26. MENDELSSOHN Scherzo in E minor Op 16 No 2 (2.33)
27. SCHUMANN Traumes Wirren No 7 from Fantasiestücke, Op 12 (2.36)

Gaston Régis (1879–1935)
Gramophone Company, Algiers: acoustic recordings—21 July 1921
28. CHOPIN Tarantelle in A flat major Op 43 (2.57)

COMPACT DISC 3 (80’44)

1. SAINT-SAËNS Menuet No 2 from Suite pour le piano, Op 90 (3.45)
2. SAINT-SAËNS Gavotte No 3 from Suite pour le piano, Op 90 (2.13)
3. SAINT-SAËNS Valse mignonne Op 104 (2.29)

Francis Planté (1839–1934)
French Columbia, Saint-Avit, Mont-de-Marsan: electrical recordings—4 July 1928
4. MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Hunting Song’ Op 19b No 3 (2.33)
5. MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Spring Song’ Op 62 No 6 (2.45)
6. MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Spinning Song’ Op 67 No 4 (2.01)
7. MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Serenade’ Op 67 No 6 (2.04)
8. MENDELSSOHN Scherzo in E minor Op 16 No 2 (3.02)
9. CHOPIN Étude in C sharp minor Op 10 No 4 (2.27)
10. CHOPIN Étude in G flat major ‘Black Keys’ Op 10 No 5 (1.57)
11. CHOPIN Étude in C major Op 10 No 7 (2.02)
12. CHOPIN Étude in A flat major ‘Aeolian Harp’ Op 25 No 1 (2.29)
13. CHOPIN Étude in F minor Op 25 No 2 (1.44)
14. CHOPIN Étude in G flat major ‘Butterfly’ Op 25 No 9 (1.16)
15. CHOPIN Étude in A minor ‘Winter Wind’ Op 25 No 11 (4.06)
16. SCHUMANN Romance in F sharp major Op 28 No 2 (2.21)
17. SCHUMANN Romance in D minor Op 32 No 3 (3.00)
18. SCHUMANN/DEBUSSY À la Fontaine (Am Springbrunnen) Op 85 No 9 (2.58)
19. BERLIOZ/REDON Sérénade de Méphistophélès Damnation of Faust (2.28)
20. BOCCHERINI/PLANTÉ Célèbre Menuet de Boccherini Quintet, Op 13/5 (2.15)
21. GLUCK/PLANTÉ Gavotte from Iphigénie en Aulide (2.49)

Lucien Wurmser (1877–1967)
Gramophone Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—April & May 1911
22. MOZART Pastorale variée K Anh. 209b (probably spurious) (3.59)
23. CHOPIN Mazurka in B minor Op 33 No 4 (4.22)
24. CHOPIN Waltz in A flat major Op 69 No 1 (4.17)
25. CHOPIN Waltz in C sharp minor Op 64 No 2 (3.05)
26. WURMSER Petit aubade (2.48)
27. WURMSER Impromptu (2.39)
28. SCHUBERT/FISCHOF Rosamunde, Ballet Music D797/9 (2.35)
29. SCHUBERT/TAUSIG Marche Militaire in D flat major D733/1 (3.53)

This latest issue in APR’s ongoing French Piano School series is perhaps the most important yet.
The set brings together some of the earliest and rarest piano recordings ever made, not just in France, but worldwide, and includes the complete solo recordings of all the pianists featured except Wurmser. Many are reissued for the first time.
The French office of the Gramophone Company was a pioneer in bringing serious artists into the studio and the results are a legacy of the utmost historical importance. So too are the early Fonotipia recordings of the only Herz pupil to record, Roger-Miclos, and the later Columbia electric recordings of Planté, made in his 90th year. With Saint-Saëns, Diémer and Planté we can hear pianists who were born in the first half of the 19th century – a unique window into the past.
The latest digital technology has been applied throughout and, amongst other improvements, we are now able to hear Pugno’s wonderful recordings, hitherto flawed by a notorious vibrato caused by the unstable recording turntable used in 1903, with their pitch stabilized.

APR7318 Available on Compact Disc, as a Digital Download and to Stream