Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
12 Etudes, op. 10
12 Etudes, op. 25
Sonate pour piano n° 3 en si mineur, op. 58
24 Préludes
14 Valses

Alfred Cortot, piano

Paris était devenu vert de gris, cela ne dérangea pas trop Alfred Cortot qui remit sur le métier ses Etudes et ses Préludes, les regravant au Studio Albert pour La Voix de son Maitre. Le fallait-il ? Le raptus des Préludes n’y est pas toujours, et les doigts parfois sont moins certains qu’en 1934, le piano lui-même moins beau. Mais Cortot reste Cortot, il fascine, et les écoutes d’une gravure l’autre seront passionnantes, outre qu’elles se font cruelles pour la version finale de 1957. Les Etudes elles n’ont que peu bougées, mais pour la vision en poème, et simplement la beauté d’un piano mieux réglé, il faudra revenir à l’indémodable gravure princeps, un des chefs d’œuvre absolu de la discographie pianistique. Les plus belles pages des sessions parisiennes de l’Occupation seront pour les Valses - 14, dans la numérotation classique - où Cortot s’autorise une certaine liberté, quelque chose d’improvisé que la mouture princeps de 1934 ignorait, mais pour retrouver son art dans toute son éloquence, il faudra se replonger dans la perfection classique de la Troisième Sonate gravée à Londres en 1931, son impeccable profil aura certainement marqué le jeune Dinu Lipatti. Reports peu filtrés, qui s’en plaindrait aurait tort. (Discophilia - Artalinna.com) (Jean-Charles Hoffelé)

What better way to introduce Alfred Cortot to APR’s French Piano School series than by focussing on the few recordings he actually made in France. There’s a good case for claiming Cortot as the greatest of twentieth century French pianists and he was certainly the most prolific one to record in the 78-rpm era. He began recording as a soloist in 1919 and continued through to the 1950s, but nearly all his discs were made in the USA and the UK. It was only during World War 2 that he recorded solo repertoire in France and these recordings, originally only released locally, are much less well-known than his London HMVs from the 1930s. Cortot seems to have planned these Paris sessions to be a substantial survey of Chopin’s works, including the complete Polonaises and Scherzi which he had not previously recorded, but in the end only the Etudes, Preludes and Waltzes were released. Cortot here is still on top form, the post war decline in his playing not yet evident, and these performances are very much complimentary to his earlier ones. Anyone, knowing of Cortot’s ‘wrong notes’ and doubting his technique only has to listen to these Etudes (all first takes!) to hear virtuoso playing of the highest order, and of course Cortot’s unique poetry is never in doubt. Perhaps the Preludes best reveal the soul of our pianist, and this set finds him at his finest. As an appendix we have included another rarity, Cortot’s first recording of Chopin’s B minor Piano Sonata, made in London in 1931. He was to remake the work in the then new Abbey Road studios in 1933, and it is this later version which has been continuously reissued, but this earlier version is in no way inferior and could be argued to be better in parts than the 1933 version. It is also in very good sound for its time and we are happy to give it some well-deserved attention.