Franck: Symphonic Variations, Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 4

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Here are performances of a timeless vitality and validity. The exception is the Ravel Concerto, which is wildly approximate and confused. Elsewhere, though, there's a super-abundance of wit and... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Catalogue No: 8110613
Label: Naxos
Series: Historical, Great Pianists
Length: 59 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Franck, C: Symphonie Variations

Work length14:31

$3.00

$3.85

Alfred Cortot
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Landon Ronald
Recorded: 13 October 1934
Recording Venue: EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 1, London

Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor, Op. 44

Work length24:55

$6.00

$7.70

Alfred Cortot
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 9 July 1935
Recording Venue: EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 1, London

Allegro moderato - Andante

Track length11:44

$3.00

$3.85

Allegro vivace - Andante - Allegro

Track length13:11

$3.00

$3.85

Ravel: Piano Concerto in D major (for the left hand)

Work length15:41

$3.00

$3.90

Alfred Cortot
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 12 May 1939
Recording Venue: Paris

Lento - Più lento - Andante

Track length6:28

$1.00

$1.30

Allegro -

Track length4:42

$1.00

$1.30

Lento - Cadenza - Allegro

Track length4:31

$1.00

$1.30

Saint-Saëns: Etude in the form of a Waltz

Work length4:26

$1.00

$1.30

Alfred Cortot
Recorded: May 1931
Recording Venue: Small Queen's Hall, Studio C, London

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Reviews

2010

Here are performances of a timeless vitality and validity. The exception is the Ravel Concerto, which is wildly approximate and confused. Elsewhere, though, there's a super-abundance of wit and charm – of Cortot at his most beguiling. His capacity to be free and ecstatic, yet bracingly unsentimental was one of his most exhilarating qualities, and his rubato at the start of the Saint- Saëns makes modern rivals such as Rogéacute; (Decca), Collard (EMI) and Hough (Hyperion) pale in comparison. At 8'12" (dolce tranquillolegato) there's a classic instance of the cantabile for which he was celebrated, and in the final pages of the same movement an inimitably limpid and delicate poetry. Again, in the central Allegro vivace, his famous or infamous scrambles and skirmishes are never at the expense of the music's innate elegance and style, and who else has spun off the Concerto's closing cascades with such glitter and aplomb? Cortot's playing may not have been note-perfect but there's no doubt that he was every inch the virtuoso. As an encore, there's Saint-Saëns's Etude en forme devalse, and while the 1931 recording is by no means the equal of the legendary 1919 disc, a performance that prompted Horowitz's envy, it's gloriously alive with Cortot's verve and magic. Mark Obert-Thorn's transfers are exceptional and all lovers of past but ever-present greatness will want this second and final Naxos volume of Cortot's sadly few concerto recordings.

Franck: Symphonic Variations, Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 4

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