Samson François
He travelled across the world of music like a meteor, a shooting star. Excessive in all things, he burned his candle at both ends. The cigarette forever on his lips was a symbol of the fire that burned within this man who had a passion for jazz and the shadowy world of the night. Born in 1924 in Frankfurt, to a French father and a glamorous Alsatian mother, he spent his childhood and adolescence being taken from town to town, this artistic soul was profoundly sensitive, a romantic with a fanciful streak, often unpredictable. An admirer of Arthur Rimbaud and André Breton, he shared a little of their fire. Samson François was a real performer: one for whom the phrase "inspiration" was more than a cliché. Whether in poetic mood or in a frenzy, he never left his listeners indifferent. He could even throw them off balance at concerts where nothing special happened: that is what a real creator can do, and François was one. Hemmed in within the limits of his keyboard, he had the imaginative range to be a composer, and he wrote the music for a film a Piano Concerto (which he also recorded), pieces for the piano and... lots of aborted projects. His favourite repertoire? Ravel, Debussy, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt and Prokofiev, a choice which allowed him to express the extremes of his unstable and fascinating spirit.
This student of Marguerite Long never taught, but he has left us a discographic legacy of immense importance, from which has emerged a compilation dedicated to Chopin, his complete performances of Ravel, and one of the great renditions of reference of two concertos from the French composer: a Concerto en sol stamped with a classic luminosity and a Concerto for the left hand marked with an implacable and tormented drama. Samson François loved to make records, and the close, stuffy atmosphere of the recording studio couldn't put him off. From 1947 to his sudden and premature death in 1970 (which prevented him from finishing his complete piano works of Claude Debussy), he recorded the lion's share of his repertoire with great care, confiding in the microphone with all the intimacy that he would bring to a live audience. "You come to put down concretely the conception that you might have of a work", he said, "and as you have the good fortune of being able to start over again, it's possible to wind up with something that satisfies you. "
His name will always be linked to that of Frédéric Chopin, a composer who began by resisting him, and of whom he became one of the greatest interpreters. He probably found in the Franco-Polish composer's music a range of changing humours which corresponded perfectly to his own nature, with this mixture of seriousness, frivolity, melancholy, of sentiments expressed with elegance, subtlety, and that bel canto for which he had such skill. Time has done its work, and if the exceptional popularity of this extraordinary pianist is forgotten, today we can at least savour all the magic that his unquiet mind brought to his art.
© FH / Qobuz
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Prokofiev & R. Schumann: Piano Concertos (Live)
Samson François, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National De Paris, Karel Ancerl, Carlo Maria Giulini
Klassiek - Released by Archipel on 27 mrt. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: Concerto pour piano No. 3, Op. 26 & Visions fugitives, Op. 22 & Toccata, Op. 11 (Mono Version)
Samson François, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, André Cluytens
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1953
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Chopin Recordings: 10 Hours
Klassiek - Released by Classic Hits OMP on 15 sep. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Concertos pour piano Nos. 1 & 2 (Stereo Version)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Constantin Silvestri, Samson François
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Impromptu, Op. 29 & Fantaisie-impromptu, Op. 66 (Mono Version)
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Concerto pour piano No. 1, Op. 11 - Liszt: Concerto pour piano No. 1, S. 124 (Mono Version)
Samson François, Georges Tzipine, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Ballades pour piano (Mono Version)
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev & Schumann: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Karel Ancerl, Samson François, Orchestre National De Paris, Carlo Maria Giulini
Klassiek - Released by OperaPrima-Carillon on 1 jan. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: 15 Rhapsodies hongroises (Mono Version)
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Polonaises "Militaire" & "Héroïque" (Mono Version)
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Récital Frédéric Chopin (Mono Version)
Klassiek - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin & Gaspard de la nuit (Mono Version)
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin Valzer
Klassiek - Released by Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group on 2 feb. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: 51 Mazurkas, Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3
Klassiek - Released by Mangora Classical on 11 nov. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart à Paris, vol. 5 (Mono Version)
Annick Simon, Samson François, Orchestre Lamoureux
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1956
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Récital Chopin (Mono Version)
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann & Chopin: Concertos pour piano (Mono Version)
Samson François, Orchestre National de France, Paul Kletzki
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Études symphoniques, Papillons & Carnaval (Mono Version)
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Impromptus
Klassiek - Released by Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group on 16 feb. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21
Samson François, Paul Kletzki, Orchestre National de France
Klassiek - Released by Classically on 18 okt. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Morceaux choisis (Mono Version)
Klassiek - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1956
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo