Three French Pianists (1901-1919) (Cecile Chaminade - Felix Mendelssohn - Louis Diemer)

Album review

One of the benefits of this high technological age is the resurrection of old, historically significant recordings. This disc is one fine example. It contains piano performances by none other than Charles Camille Saint-Saëns, Cécile Chaminade, and Louis Diémer, all child prodigies who matured into stars of their day. The playing on this disc belies the reputation of nineteenth century pianists as performers playing fast and loose with rhythm and rubato. It shows these three fine executants of their craft as strong performers who play with rhythmic precision and structural and contrapuntal clarity. Chaminade performs seven of her works, which are finely crafted salon pieces, for which she was known. Her performances -- all clean, driving, and authoritative -- were taken from 10" discs, which are among the earliest commercially made and issued. Diémer was a pianist, organist, and harpsichordist known for extreme precision, purity, and strength. As the teacher of Alfred Cortot, Robert Casadesus, and Marcel Dupré, he was a major influence on the next generation of French pianists. His playing on this disc displays his ease of rapid finger work and clean and dynamic playing. He performs two of his own works, one by Godard and dedicated to him, and "La Fileuse" from Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words and Chopin's Nocturne in D flat, Op. 27/2. Saint-Saëns was a prodigy, both as composer and pianist, of the magnitude of Mozart and Mendelssohn, and is the earliest born pianist who made records (excluding piano rolls). His playing here displays the characteristics of powerful fingers at ease with fast, fluid playing. The works are all his own and are either small salon compositions or excerpts from larger works. In four he accompanies contralto Meyrianne Héglon and in two he accompanies violinist Gabrièl Willaume. This disc, a window to the past, is not for those requiring substantial repertoire or high fidelity sound. Rather, it is for those interested in piano performance history. These are not transfers from piano rolls, but from actual acoustical recordings, and, although the scratchiness of the discs is ubiquitous, the real pianophile will listen through the less than perfect sound to find merit in the value of the performances themselves.
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