Anne Queffélec ENTREZ DANS LA DANSE...

The same qualities as on her delightful cornucopia ‘Satie & Compagnie’ (4/13) are on display again in Anne Queffélec’s programme of dances from the belle époque and inter-war periods in France. All the composers were either disciples or pupils of one another or personal friends. Stylistically, it is easy to hear the cross-references: ‘Their works engaged in dialogue, nourished and interpenetrated each other’, as the excellent booklet has it. You can hear Faure’s Le pas espagnol, for instance, either as an affectionate tribute to or tongue-in-cheek pastiche of Chabrier. It was Fauré who provided early inspiration for the Catalan Federico Mompou, the sole outsider in nationality on this album (though not in terms of musical style) and whose Canción y Danza No 4 opens proceedings.

Again, Queffélec mixes the familiar with the less well known, with enough of the latter to entice any pianophile to invest and pianist to track down the sheet music (as an example, your reviewer has now finally got round to having a serious look at Poulenc’s Suite française). Her approach to the music is one of enchanting simplicity. No show, no grandstanding; she beckons the listener to leave what they are doing, if they wish, and to come over and join her. Minimum pedal, lovely finger legato, each note of these economically scored pieces intimately projected and made to tell.

Le pas espagnol, mentioned above, is one of five (out of the 24) tracks in which Queffélec is joined by Gaspard Dehaene. Notwithstanding the exuberant nature of this and a few others (Massenet’s Valse folle first among them), the general tenor of the 82-minute programme is one of reflection and introspection, a welcome balm, and warmly recommended. (Jeremy Nicholas / Gramophone)

Anne Queffélec SATIE & COMPAGNIE

From the wit of Satie to the to the poetry of Debussy, French music of the early decades of the twentieth century was created by exceptional and imaginative minds capable of grasping delicate nuances and shining infinite variations of light on the natural world and the human soul. Renowned for her diverse repertoire and impressive discography, French pianist Anne Queffelec has a special affinity for this repertoire. On this delightful collection from Mirare, Queffelec leads us down the varied and colorful pathways of some of the most fascinating French music for piano ever written.

Marie-Catherine Girod / Quatuor Pražák GABRIEL DUPONT

Gabriel Dupont, who lived to the age of only 36 before succumbing to tuberculosis in 1914, is one of those late-19th- and early 20th-century French composers whom history has eclipsed in favour of such leading lights as Debussy and Ravel, yet in 1901 Dupont beat Ravel into third place by coming second in the Prix de Rome (André Caplet won first prize with the cantata Myrrha). Despite success with opera in his day, Dupont’s name has survived largely through his piano cycles Les heures dolentes (1903 05) and La maison dans les dunes (1907 09).

In these miniatures, as Marie-Catherine Girod shows in these affectionately turned performances of selections from both sets, Dupont expressed an attractive, limpid wistfulness. His illness, which dogged him for his last decade, not only removed him from the centres of musical activity in Paris but also seems to have wrapped him in a mood of inner reflection – by no means always sad, as can be heard, for instance, in the scintillating ‘Du soleil au jardin’ and ‘Coquetteries’ from Les heures dolentes, but generally with a sense of regret that he cannot completely enjoy his surroundings while encumbered with ill-health. ‘Mélancolie du bonheur’ (‘Melancholy of Happiness’) seems to be his overriding state of mind. Journée de printemps for violin and piano is a beguiling diptych of a spring morning and evening; but not even Girod and the excellent Pražák  Quartet can rescue the overlong, suffocatingly overheated Poème (Geoffrey Norris / Gramophone)

Marie-Catherine Girod GABRIEL DUPONT La Maison dans les dunes GUSTAVE SAMAZEUILH Le Chant de la mer

Marie-Catherine Girod has won a unique place in the music world thanks to the audacious and virtuosic manner with which she defends unknown and rarely played works. With flawless technique and sincere conviction, she has introduced audiences the world over to composers such as Decaux, Tournemire, Le Flem, D'Indy, Emmanuel, Aubert, Bax and Bowen. 

At the same time, Ms. Girod devotes the same ardor and devotion to the standard repertoire, and her recordings of Chopin, Frank, Rachmaninoff and Weber have won critical and popular acclaim. 

A regular featured artist at major French music festivals, such as the Festival Chopin de Bagatelle or the Festival de Nohant, La Roque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée in Nantes and Tokyo. Ms. Girod has performed in major venues all over Europe, including the Settembre Musica of Turin, and the Husum rare piano music festival in Germany. She is also a regular guest on radio broadcasts of France Musique and Radio Classique.

Marie Catherine Girod is Chevalier des Arts et Lettres et Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite. With an impressive discography comprising over fourty titles of which a large number are world premieres, Ms. Girod has received numerous awards for her recordings: Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, 10 de Répertoire-the major French music magazines have all praised her original repertoire where one can hear Pierre Octave Ferroud and Gabriel Dupont next to Manuel Rosenthal or Gustave Samazeuilh.

The Grand Prix de l’Académie du Disque Français was awrded two times to Ms. Girod, for her recording of sonatas by Georges Auric, Henri Dutilleux and André Jolivet, and again for her complete cycle of the sonatas of Maurice Emmanuel. 

She also received the Grand Prix International Charles Cros for her recording of the works of Arthur Lourié. Recently, she recorded for Mirare the “Poème” from Gabriel Dupont with Prazàk quartet for the label Mirare Concert artist and pedagogue, she is professor in Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. 

Impassioned, enthusiastic and sensitive in all her appearances on stage, Marie-Catherine Girod strives in all her repertoire to present the piano in all its aspects at the highest artistic level.

Claire Désert SCHUMANN Fantaisie - Trois Romances - Scènes de la Forêt

Claire Désert seduces her audience with her graceful, profound and humble interpretations. She is in the line-up of important French and international festivals, and she regularly performs with important symphonic orchestras.

At 14, she entered the Paris Conservatoire and graduated with a First Prize in chamber music in Jean Hubeau’s class and a unanimous First Prize in piano in Venislav Yankoff’s class.  She was recognized at an early age and the French government selected her to pursue her studies at the Moscow Tchaïkovski Conservatory, in Evgeni Malinin’s class.

Claire Désert is an exceptional artist and a World-class chamber musician. Her favorite partners are pianist Emmanuel Strosser, cellist Anne Gastinel, violonists Philippe Graffin and Tedi Papavrami, the Quatuor Sine Nomine and the Quintette Moraguès. 

Since her very first disc, Claire Désert has summoned the Schumannian rages in solo or in chamber music.

Here, with three major piano works, she portrays the soul of German Romanticism, from its dark forests to its popular romances.

This is also the whole universe of Schumann, between virtuosity, madness and fervour.