COMPOSERS: Saint-Sa‘ns
LABELS: EMI
WORKS: Piano Concerto No. 1; Piano Concerto No. 2; Piano Concerto No. 3; Piano Concerto No. 4; Piano Concerto No. 5; Septet
PERFORMER: Jeanne-Marie Darré (piano), etc French Radio National Orchestra/Louis Fourestier, Pascal Quartet
CATALOGUE NO: CZS 5 69470 2 ADD mono 1955-7
Only pianophiles whose memory goes back a few decades are likely to remember Darré in her prime, if at all. But what a pianist she was. Born in 1905, she represented French pianism at its most robust and unsentimental. At once percussive and lyrical, witty and rhetorical, broad in scope and meticulous in detail, her playing here is a delight from start to finish. Effortlessly brilliant and stylish, she reminds me of Cécile Ousset at her scintillating best. A winner all the way. Jeremy Siepmann
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 1; Piano Concerto No. 2; Piano Concerto No. 3; Piano Concerto No. 4; Piano Concerto No. 5; Septet
Only pianophiles whose memory goes back a few decades are likely to remember Darré in her prime, if at all. But what a pianist she was. Born in 1905, she represented French pianism at its most robust and unsentimental. At once percussive and lyrical, witty and rhetorical, broad in scope and meticulous in detail, her playing here is a delight from start to finish. Effortlessly brilliant and stylish, she reminds me of Cécile Ousset at her scintillating best. A winner all the way. Jeremy Siepmann
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:40 pm