Notes and Editorial Reviews
One of the most important cellists of the generation after Pablo Casals, Pierre Fournier was also very much a French musician, championing the music of his nation, offering authentic and informed performances of it, and lending it the typically Gallic elegance of his tone. This generously filled reissue offers two French romantic concertos which are very often coupled on record--the Lalo and the first Saint-Saëns--along with two concertante works on Hebrew themes.
The French concertos are minor key works that allude to operatic drama and offer plenty of opportunities for lyrical songfulness. In the right hands--which Fournier's most certainly are--they can generate a fair amount of excitement in addition to displaying an attractive
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surface. These 1960 recordings are vivid with an authentically French accompaniment backing Fournier's suave performances.
Bruch's 'Kol Nidrei' is a lovely, melancholy utterance in which Fournier's lustrous tone is at its most exposed, while Bloch's 'Schelomo,' the lone 20th-century work here, is a portrayal of King Solomon in which the soloist is given to dramatic incantation. Fournier is eloquent in this 1966 recording, and the Berlin Philharmonic savors the quasi-Oriental raptures of the lush, late Romantic score.
REVIES:
New York Times (3/12/00, p.24) - "This reissue...could not be more welcome....Fournier brings more than authority to these tuneful pieces. His lambent tone invests the music with that rarest of virtues, heart....this is music to be savored..." Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Concerto for Cello in D minor by Edouard Lalo
Performer:
Pierre Fournier (Cello)
Conductor:
Jean Martinon
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Lamoureux Concerts Association Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1877; France
Date of Recording: 05/1960
Venue: Salle de la Mutualité, Paris, France
Length: 27 Minutes 5 Secs.
2.
Concerto for Cello no 1 in A minor, Op. 33 by Camille Saint-Saëns
Performer:
Pierre Fournier (Cello)
Conductor:
Jean Martinon
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Lamoureux Concerts Association Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1872; France
Date of Recording: 05/1960
Venue: Salle de la Mutualité, Paris, France
Length: 19 Minutes 20 Secs.
3.
Kol Nidrei for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 47 by Max Bruch
Performer:
Pierre Fournier (Cello)
Conductor:
Jean Martinon
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Lamoureux Concerts Association Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1881; Liverpool, England
Date of Recording: 05/1960
Venue: Salle de la Mutualité, Paris, France
Length: 10 Minutes 30 Secs.
4.
Schelomo by Ernest Bloch
Performer:
Pierre Fournier (Cello)
Conductor:
Alfred Wallenstein
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1915-1916; USA
Date of Recording: 10/1966
Venue: UFA Recording Studio, Berlin, Germany
Length: 21 Minutes 56 Secs.
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