Pierre FOURNIER plays, Karl MÜNCHINGER conducts
XVIII Century cello concertos: COUPERIN, VIVALDI, HAYDN, BOCCHERINI (1953-54)
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PIERRE FOURNIER, ‘cello
MUSIC OF XVIII CENTURY
1-3. Luigi BOCCHERINI – Cello concerto No.9 B-Dur, G.482 (arr. Friedrich Grützmacher)
Recorded in 1953
4-7. Antonio VIVALDI – Cello concerto e-moll (arr. from Sonata e-moll RV40 by Vincent d’Indy)
Recorded in 1953
8-12. François COUPERIN - Pièces en concert from Les gouts réunis (arr. Paul Bazelaire)
Recorded in 1953
13-15. Joseph HAYDN – Cello concerto No.2 D-Dur, Hob. VIIb:2
Recorded in 1954
Stuttgarter Kammerrorchester
Karl MÜNCHINGER, cond.***************************************************************
Pierre Fournier (1906-1986) was born in Paris on June 24, and known in his lifetime as "the aristocrat of cellists," because of his lyrical playing, and for his impeccable artistic sensitivity.
Fournier was the son of a French army general, and as a child was taught piano by his mother. At the age of nine he suffered a mild case of polio, and lost some of the dexterity in his legs and feet. No longer able to master the use of the piano pedals, he searched for another musical instrument, and turned to the cello.
He quickly made good progress on his new instrument, and was able to win entrance to the Paris Conservatoire, where he became a pupil of Paul Bazelaire, and later Anton Hekking. He graduated at the age of seventeen, in the year 1923. Maurice Marechal called him "the cellist of the future." Even at such a young age, Fournier had tremendous virtuosity, and was famous for his bowing facility. Fournier was a friend of another great French cellist, Tortelier. Once, meeting backstage after a recital by Tortelier, Pierre said to him, "Paul, I wish I had your left hand." Tortelier replied, "Pierre, I wish I had your right arm!"
Fournier became well known in 1925 after a successful performance with the Edouard Colonne Orchestra in Paris, and began to give concerts all over Europe. Fournier played with all the great musicians of his time, including Cortot, Thibaud, Furtwangler, Karajan and Kubelik. Together with Artur Schnabel, Szigeti and Primrose he recorded nearly all of the chamber music of Brahms and Schubert. Unfortunately the acetates on which the BBC recorded the series deteriorated before they could be copied to a more durable medium.
In the years 1937-1939 Fournier directed the cello class at the Ecole Normale, and from 1941-1949 also at the Paris Conservatoire.
Fournier made his first tour of the USA in 1948 to great acclaim in New York and Boston. Virgil Thomson wrote in the New York Herald Tribune, "I do not know his superior among living cellists, nor any...who give one more profoundly the feeling of having been present at music-making." His performing career occupied more and more of his time, and he had to resign from his teaching post in Paris. In 1959 he appeared for the first time in Moscow, where he played most of the standard concertos of the cello repertoire.
He enjoyed modern music, as well as classical. Many modern composers wrote works for him, including Martinu, Martinon and Poulenc. As a teacher Fournier insisted that his students develop a smooth tone, and a high elbow for the right arm. He believed that the Sevcik violin exercises were valuable for cellists who wanted to perfect bowing technique.
Karl Münchinger (1915 - 1990) was one of those rare conductors whose careers are largely tied to their native city, in his case, Stuttgart. He was also closely identified with Bach, having conducted and recorded many of the Baroque master's compositions, generally with high critical praise. Münchinger also conducted much music from the Classical and Romantic periods and, to a lesser extent, from the twentieth century. The majority of his numerous recordings were made for the Decca label. Münchinger showed musical talent as a child and later began studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart. He then studied conducting at the Leipzig Conservatory under Hermann Abendroth. After graduation, he returned to Stuttgart and freelanced as a conductor while primarily supporting himself as an organist and choir director. In 1941, he accepted the post of conductor of the Hanover Symphony Orchestra. This would be the only major appointment in his career outside of his native Stuttgart. He held no post from 1943 until the end of the war.
In summer 1945, he founded the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the ensemble he became identified with in much the way Karajan would be with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He quickly built the orchestra up from modest resources in the postwar era, so that by the late-'40s, they were making their first important tours abroad. Münchinger and the SCO debuted in Paris in 1949, representing the first German ensemble to appear there since the prewar era. That same year, they made successful tours of England and Spain. In 1952, they toured Central and South America. The conductor himself made his American debut in 1953 (San Francisco) and took the SCO back to the U.S. the following year for a successful concert tour there. He would return with his ensemble in 1977, once more receiving generally favorable response from both critics and the public.
By the mid-'50s, Münchinger had established a reputation as one of the finest Bach interpreters in Europe. His admirers will assert that he was instrumental in restoring Baroque traditions to Bach interpretation, filtering out errant Romantic elements that had crept in over the years. Also by this time, Münchinger and the SCO were receiving invitations from throughout Europe, Russia, and Japan, and appeared in these various locales over the next couple of decades, scoring particular triumphs at the yearly festivals in Edinburgh, Salzburg, Prague (Prague Spring), and Colmar. In the recording studio, Münchinger was scoring triumphs a well: in 1964, he led the SCO in a recording of Bach's St. Matthew Passion with soloists Peter Pears, Hermann Prey, and Elly Ameling for the Decca label, that was awarded a Grand Prix du Disque. He made numerous other notable recordings of choral works by Bach, as well as the Brandenburg Concertos; symphonies by Beethoven and Mozart; and even music by twentieth century Swiss composer Frank Martin.
Münchinger founded the Klassiches Philharmonie Stuttgart in 1966, an offshoot ensemble of the SCO, expanding the membership to 45 musicians in order to accommodate performing larger compositions. Münchinger and the SCO continued a fairly heavy performance and recording schedule in the 1970s and '80s, with many tours abroad. In 1977, they became the first German ensemble to visit the People's Republic of China. Münchinger retired in 1988 and died two years later.
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Ape + Cue
Source –
eMule
