Pierre Fournier
Pierre Léon Marie Fournier was born into a military family. His father was a general; his mother was musical and taught him piano lessons. At the age of 9, he suffered a mild attack of polio. Weakness of his legs made pedaling the piano difficult. So he turned to the cello, and after making rapid progress, he was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire. His teachers there were Paul Bazelaire and Anton Hekking; he graduated in 1924 at the age of 17. Fournier made his debut the year after his graduation. This was a solo appearance with the Concerts Colonne Orchestra, which received favorable notices. The almost invariable comment in reviews was the perfection of his bowing technique. He began a successful career as a touring concert artist and as a performer in chamber music concerts, gaining a great reputation in Europe.
In 1937 to 1939, he was the director of cello studies at the Ecole Normal. It was often said that he became a friendly rival with his contemporary, cellist Paul Tortelier, and after attending a Tortelier concert remarked to him, "Paul, I wish I had your left hand." Tortelier responded, "Pierre, I wish I had your right." To Fournier, the secret of his great right hand (i.e., bowing technique) was keeping the elbow high, holding the bow firmly, but allowing the hand and arm to move fluidly. He prescribed the Sevcik violin bowing studies for his cello students.
In 1941, he became a member of the faculty at the Paris Conservatoire, but during the war years, his concert touring career was impossible. Once the war was over, though, was able to resume and he rapidly increased in fame and international stature. His old audience found that he had grown in artistic depth. Hungarian violinist Joseph Szigeti, meeting Fournier in rehearsals for a 1947 Edinburgh Festival appearance, had not heard him for over ten years and wrote that he was "tremendously impressed by the Apollonian beauty and poise that his playing had acquired in the intervening years. Szigeti, Fournier, violist William Primrose, and pianist Artur Schnabel formed a piano quartet in those years and gave some fabled concerts at which they played virtually all of Schubert's and Brahms' piano chamber music. Sadly, the BBC acetate air checks of this cycle were allowed to deteriorate and have been lost.
Fournier made his first U.S. tour in 1948. His chamber music partner Artur Schnabel spread the word among cellists, other musicians, and critics that they were to be visited by a great new cellist. The New York and Boston critics were ecstatic. He had to give up his Conservatoire post because of his expanding concert career; he appeared in Moscow for the first time in 1959. Commentator Lev Grinberg wrote that he was notable for a romantic interpretation; clarity of form; vivid phrasing; and clean, broad bowing all "aimed at revealing the content."
He had a broad repertoire, including Bach, Boccherini, the Romantics, Debussy, Hindemith, and Prokofiev. Composers Martinu, Martinon, Martin, Roussel, and Poulenc all wrote works for him. He had a standing Friday night date to privately play chamber music with Alfred Cortot, the eminent French pianist, at which they might be visited by musicians like Jacques Thibaud. In 1953, he became a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and was promoted to officer in 1963.
In 1972, he retired to Switzerland and gave master classes. He still gave concerts, even as late as 1984 when he was 78, and a London critic praised the fluency of his playing and his strong and solid left-hand technique.
© TiVo
Similar artists
-
Lalo: Cello Concerto / Saint-Saëns:Cello Concerto
Pierre Fournier, Orchestre Lamoureux, Jean Martinon, Berliner Philharmoniker, Alfred Wallenstein
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvorák / Elgar: Cello Concertos
Pierre Fournier, Berliner Philharmoniker, George Szell, Alfred Wallenstein
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 3 Aug 1988
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Art of Pierre Fournier
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 1 Aug 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven - Pierre Fournier Plays Cello Works
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 13 Jan 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cello Masterpieces: Pierre Fournier — Johann Sebastian Bach Suites for Cello Nos. 2, 4 & 6 (Remastered 2017)
Classical - Released by Jube Classic on 1 Dec 2017
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: The Cello Sonatas and Variations (Remastered 2021)
Pierre Fournier, Friedrich Gulda
Classical - Released by Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording on 7 Oct 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvorak: Cello Concerto; Symphony No.8
Pierre Fournier, Berliner Philharmoniker, George Szell, Rafael Kubelik
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák & Saint-Saëns: Cello Concertos (+ Casals)
Classical - Released by Audite on 27 Feb 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: The Music for Cello and Piano
Pierre Fournier, Wilhelm Kempff
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Mar 1966
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Trios Op. 49, Op. 66
Arthur Grumiaux, Pierre Fournier, Nikita Magaloff
Classical - Released by NAR International on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Cello Sonatas
Pierre Fournier, Wilhelm Backhaus
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1955
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pierre Fournier - Legendary Recordings
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 20 Feb 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn / Boccherini: Cello Conertos
Mstislav Rostropovich, Collegium Musicum Zurich, Paul Sacher, Pierre Fournier, Festival Strings Lucerne, Rudolf Baumgartner
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Classical Music #65 : Pëtr Iljič Čajkovskij
Herbert von Karajan, Pierre Fournier, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Philharmonia Orchestra
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on 4 Nov 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kodály, Brahms & Others: Cello Works (Live)
Pierre Fournier, Alexander Dedyukhin
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on 5 Aug 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: 6 Moments musicaux, Op. 94 - Beethoven: Cello Sonatas Nos. 1-5
Pierre Fournier, Artur Schnabel
Chamber Music - Released by Andromeda on 15 Jul 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Klaviertrios
Wilhelm Kempff, Henryk Szeryng, Pierre Fournier
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1970
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Complete Works for Cello & Piano
Pierre Fournier, Friedrich Gulda
Chamber Music - Released by Urania Records on 1 Jan 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Complete Works for Cello and Piano
Pierre Fournier, Friedrich Gulda
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1992
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cello Sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms and Rachmaninov
Emanuel Feuermann, Pierre Fournier, Zara Nelsova
Classical - Released by Editions Audiovisuel Beulah on 20 Nov 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
R. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra; Don Quixote (Clemens Krauss: Complete Decca Recordings, Vol. 5)
Pierre Fournier, Ernst Morawec, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Clemens Krauss
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 Jan 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo