Polonaises, Trois Nouvelles Etudes, Rondo in C : Francois (2CD)

Great Recordings of the Century

Frederic Chopin
CD1
Polonaise No.1 in C sharp minor op.26 No.1
Polonaise No.2 in E flat minor op.26 No.2
Polonaise No.3 in A op.40 No.1 'Military'
Polonaise No.4 in C minor op.40 No.2
Polonaise No.5 in F sharp minor op.44
Polonaise No.6 in A flat op.53 'Heroic'
Polonaise No.7 in A flat op.61 'Polonaise-fantaisie'
Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise in E flat op.22
CD2
Polonaises op.71 : No.1 in D minor / No.2 in B flat / No.3 in F minor
Fantaisie in F minor op.49
Tarentelle in A flat op.43
Barcarolle in F sharp op.60
Trois Nouvelles Etudes for Moscheles' Methode : No.1 in F minor / No.2 in D flat / No.3 in A flat
Rondo in C for two pianos op.73 (with Pierre Barbizet)

Samson Francois, piano

2008 Digital remastering
polonaises recorded in this stereo version in the Salle Wagam 1968 and 1969
all tracks are newly transferred and remastered to ART standard at Abbey Road Studios
The French pianist Samson Francois (1924-1970) recorded three complete Chopin sequences: the ballades, which brought him his first great success on record, the nocturnes and the polonaises. Francois learned his Chopin from Alfred Cortot, from whom he inherited a visionary style which suits the polonaises particularly well. (By an irony, Cortot himself played these works relatively rarely and recorded almost none of them.)

Above all, these polonaises achieve a dramatic tension that sets them apart from other contemporary versions on disc: neither Rubinstein, supremely elegant as always, nor Stefan Askenaze, who cherishes the dance element, approach these works with such intensity. The couplings are a handful of late works recorded at the end of sessions devoted to the nocturnes: the Trois Nouvelles Etudes, the Tarentelle, the Fantaisie in F minor and the F sharp Barcarolle share the same overcast outlook, and to that extent are a perfect foil to the often exuberant polonaises. Francois played all the Chopin that was published in his day: even the C major Rondo for two pianos of 1828, reworked for four hands from an earlier solo piece, and recorded here with the pianist’s lifelong friend Pierre Barbizet.