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CHOPIN, Vol. 1 ∞ Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 45 4:12 8.111023 Recorded 4th November, 1949 Great • Cortot 24 Preludes, Op. 28 33:47 in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 3, London ADD 1 No. 1 in C major 0:39 Matrix: 2EA 14284-1 2 No. 2 in A minor 2:06 First issued on HMV DB 21018 3 No. 3 in G major 0:55 4 No. 4 in E minor 1:54 § Prelude in D flat major, Op. 28, No. 15 4:44 5 No. 5 in D major 0:32 Recorded 30th October, 1950 6 No. 6 in B minor 1:51 in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 3, London CHOPIN 7 No. 7 in A major 0:38 Matrix: 2EA 15166-2 8 No. 8 in F sharp minor 1:38 First issued on HMV DB 21175 9 No. 9 in E major 1:22 0 No. 10 in C sharp minor 0:28 ¶ Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57 4:09 Preludes ! No. 11 in B major 0:29 Recorded 4th November, 1949 @ No. 12 in G sharp minor 1:04 in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 3, London # No. 13 in F sharp major 2:41 Matrix: 2EA 14285-1A Impromptus $ No. 14 in E flat minor 0:29 First issued on HMV DB 21175 % No. 15 in D flat major 4:30 ^ No. 16 in B flat minor 1:02 Impromptus 17:59 Berceuse & No. 17 in A flat major 2:45 • No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 29 3:47 * No. 18 in F minor 0:47 ª No. 2 in F sharp major, Op. 36 5:01 ( No. 19 in E flat major 1:08 º No. 3 in G flat major, Op. 51 4:32 ) No. 20 in C minor 1:24 ⁄ Fantasie-Impromptu in C sharp minor, Op. 66 4:39 Tarantelle ¡ No. 21 in B flat major 1:33 Recorded 5th July, 1933 ™ No. 22 in G minor 0:42 in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 3, London £ No. 23 in F major 0:40 Matrices: 2B 5222-1, 5224-2, 5223-2 and 5225-1 ¢ No. 24 in D minor 2:30 First issued on HMV DB 2021 and 2022 Recorded 22nd - 23rd March, 1926 in HMV Studio A, Hayes ¤ Tarantelle in A flat major, Op. 43 3:11 Matrices: Cc 8168-1, 8157-3, 8158-2, 8170-1, Recorded 13th May, 1931 8169-2, 8159-1, 8160-3 and 8161-3 in Studio C, Queen’s Small Hall, London First issued on HMV DB 957 through 960 Matrix: 0B 882-1 First issued on HMV DA 1213 1926-1950 Recordings

8.111023 4 111023 bk Cortot EU 7/10/2005 10:15am Page 2

Alfred Cortot (1877-1962) attempt, reissued here, appears to be his first electrical graceful No. 1 … and rather a lot of supererogatory recording made for HMV. In March 1925 Cortot was notes in the middle of No. 2, which, however, is perhaps Chopin Vol. 1 the first to make an issued electrical recording, the best of the four, the latter part being incomparably made for Victor. The Preludes heard here were pearly’. Compared to many modern performances the The son of a French father and Swiss mother, Alfred the Ecole Normale de Musique for which he appointed recorded in HMV’s Studio A at Hayes on 22nd and 23rd Impromptus sound far from ‘businesslike’. Cortot was born in Nyon, Switzerland, in 1877. During a hand-picked staff. Cortot himself taught there until March 1926 on Cortot’s preferred Pleyel piano. (CD In the years immediately following the end of the his childhood the family moved to Paris and at the age 1961, and his most famous students include Magda issues by EMI of parts of this recording cite the Second World War Cortot was not popular, owing to his of nine young Alfred joined the Paris Conservatoire, Tagliaferro, Clara Haskil and Yvonne Lefébure. recording date as 7th April 1926, but this seems to be connections with the Vichy government. Only a few where he studied piano first with Emile Descombes Cortot was a great musician whose interpretations incorrect). These early electrical recordings were weeks after the War ended Cortot wrote to the (1829–1912) and, from the age of fifteen, with Louis were often on a spiritual level. He managed to convey a received with praise, particularly for the quality of Gramophone Company in London asking to make Diémer (1843–1919). Cortot made his début in 1897 depth of meaning through his playing and became recorded sound. It is therefore uncertain why Cortot recordings, in particular to finish a recording of the with Beethoven’s No. 3 in C minor, associated with the works of Schumann, Debussy and recorded the Preludes complete again on 5th December complete works of Chopin, which he had begun in and gave piano duet recitals with Edouard Risler particularly Chopin. When he played Rachmaninov’s 1927 (in Studio C of the Small Queen’s Hall), on the 4th in 1942, for the centenary of Chopin’s death in (1873–1929), playing arrangements for four hands of Piano Concerto No. 3 with and the June 1928 (in Studio D of the Small Queen’s Hall from 1949. Although a contract was drawn up in 1946, it was music by Wagner. His enthusiasm for the German Philadelphia Orchestra in 1920, however, one reviewer Kingsway Hall) and on 11th December 1928 (in Studio not until November 1949 that the recordings of the composer led to his appointment as choral coach, then passed a comment repeatedly used in descriptions of C of the Small Queen’s Hall). Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 45, and the Berceuse, assistant conductor at Bayreuth, working under Felix Cortot’s playing, ‘Alfred Cortot explores the spiritual Cortot recorded Chopin’s Tarantelle Op. 43 at least Op. 57, heard here were made, as he was giving Mottl and Hans Richter. Cortot’s experiences in depths of music. In the most genuine and unaffected seven times, and six of these recordings were published. anniversary performances of Chopin at the Salle Pleyel Bayreuth left him eager to introduce Wagner’s music to way he is among the most poetic of pianists.’ One of these was made at the 5th July 1933 session at in Paris in October 1949. He had previously recorded French audiences, and in 1902 he founded the Société Reference is often made to Cortot’s technical which the four Impromptus were also recorded, but the the Prelude on 10th October 1947 but this was not de Festivals Lyriques, through which in May of the inaccuracy in his recordings, but to a musician of his version heard here is the one made two years earlier. issued at the time, whilst the Berceuse had been same year he conducted the Paris première of stature, the message of the music was paramount. It The four Impromptus from 1933 was Cortot’s only recorded at the marathon session of 5th July 1933 and in Götterdämmerung. The following year he organized should also be remembered that if the artist was not published version (a later set from September 1943 was Paris in 1943, but neither was released. another society, enabling him to give performances of satisfied with a 78rpm side he could record it over again not issued). A contemporary review found the playing major works such as Brahms’s German Requiem, until he was. Like Anton Rubinstein, Cortot always had to be ‘too businesslike, too cavalier for the gentle, © 2005 Jonathan Summers Liszt’s St Elisabeth, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and an image in his mind by which the mood of the work Wagner’s Parsifal, and not long after he became was transmitted to the listener. For the recording of conductor of the Société Nationale, promoting works Chopin’s Preludes heard here he offered his poetic by contemporary French composers. adumbrations of the moods such as ‘Waiting feverishly Cortot was a multi-faceted musician, a conductor for the loved one’ for No. 1; ‘The road to the abyss’ for Producer’s Note and player as well as solo pianist. He No. 16 and ‘The snow falls, the wind howls, the formed a famous piano trio with Jacques Thibaud and tempest rages, but in my sad heart there is a more This volume is the first of five devoted to Cortot’s 78-rpm era recordings of Chopin. The series will feature at least , but it was as a pianist that he became terrible storm’ for No. 8. Interestingly, a reviewer of one version of every published Chopin solo work the pianist recorded during the period, and will also include some renowned. He was appointed by Gabriel Fauré to a Cortot’s 1933 version of No. 8 thought it ‘can only be which were unissued on shellac discs. teaching post at the Paris Conservatoire, but was in compared to lightning, or to a rapid, crystal-clear Cortot recorded many of these works several times over, and the emphasis here will be on versions which have such demand as a performer that he was invariably stream scintillating in the sun’. not been reissued quite as frequently as others. For example, the 1926 early electric recording of the Preludes has away on tour. In 1918 he made his first tour of Cortot recorded many of Chopin’s works many been chosen over the more commonly-known 1933 remake. The 1950 version of the Raindrop Prelude has never America, and during his second tour in 1920 he played times. There are three published versions of the appeared on CD outside Japan, while the 1931 Tarantelle is here making its first CD appearance anywhere. all five of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos in two complete Preludes Op. 28 recorded in 1926, 1933 and The sources for the complete set of Preludes and the Impromptus were U.S. Victor “Z” pressings, while the evenings and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 1942. Between 1926 and 1928, however, he recorded remaining items were taken from British HMV shellacs. with the composer present. Also at this time he founded the complete Preludes no less than four times. The first Mark Obert-Thorn 8.111023 2 3 8.111023 111023 bk Cortot EU 7/10/2005 10:15am Page 2

Alfred Cortot (1877-1962) attempt, reissued here, appears to be his first electrical graceful No. 1 … and rather a lot of supererogatory recording made for HMV. In March 1925 Cortot was notes in the middle of No. 2, which, however, is perhaps Chopin Vol. 1 the first pianist to make an issued electrical recording, the best of the four, the latter part being incomparably made for Victor. The Preludes heard here were pearly’. Compared to many modern performances the The son of a French father and Swiss mother, Alfred the Ecole Normale de Musique for which he appointed recorded in HMV’s Studio A at Hayes on 22nd and 23rd Impromptus sound far from ‘businesslike’. Cortot was born in Nyon, Switzerland, in 1877. During a hand-picked staff. Cortot himself taught there until March 1926 on Cortot’s preferred Pleyel piano. (CD In the years immediately following the end of the his childhood the family moved to Paris and at the age 1961, and his most famous students include Magda issues by EMI of parts of this recording cite the Second World War Cortot was not popular, owing to his of nine young Alfred joined the Paris Conservatoire, Tagliaferro, Clara Haskil and Yvonne Lefébure. recording date as 7th April 1926, but this seems to be connections with the Vichy government. Only a few where he studied piano first with Emile Descombes Cortot was a great musician whose interpretations incorrect). These early electrical recordings were weeks after the War ended Cortot wrote to the (1829–1912) and, from the age of fifteen, with Louis were often on a spiritual level. He managed to convey a received with praise, particularly for the quality of Gramophone Company in London asking to make Diémer (1843–1919). Cortot made his début in 1897 depth of meaning through his playing and became recorded sound. It is therefore uncertain why Cortot recordings, in particular to finish a recording of the with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, associated with the works of Schumann, Debussy and recorded the Preludes complete again on 5th December complete works of Chopin, which he had begun in and gave piano duet recitals with Edouard Risler particularly Chopin. When he played Rachmaninov’s 1927 (in Studio C of the Small Queen’s Hall), on the 4th France in 1942, for the centenary of Chopin’s death in (1873–1929), playing arrangements for four hands of Piano Concerto No. 3 with Leopold Stokowski and the June 1928 (in Studio D of the Small Queen’s Hall from 1949. Although a contract was drawn up in 1946, it was music by Wagner. His enthusiasm for the German Philadelphia Orchestra in 1920, however, one reviewer Kingsway Hall) and on 11th December 1928 (in Studio not until November 1949 that the recordings of the composer led to his appointment as choral coach, then passed a comment repeatedly used in descriptions of C of the Small Queen’s Hall). Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 45, and the Berceuse, assistant conductor at Bayreuth, working under Felix Cortot’s playing, ‘Alfred Cortot explores the spiritual Cortot recorded Chopin’s Tarantelle Op. 43 at least Op. 57, heard here were made, as he was giving Mottl and Hans Richter. Cortot’s experiences in depths of music. In the most genuine and unaffected seven times, and six of these recordings were published. anniversary performances of Chopin at the Salle Pleyel Bayreuth left him eager to introduce Wagner’s music to way he is among the most poetic of pianists.’ One of these was made at the 5th July 1933 session at in Paris in October 1949. He had previously recorded French audiences, and in 1902 he founded the Société Reference is often made to Cortot’s technical which the four Impromptus were also recorded, but the the Prelude on 10th October 1947 but this was not de Festivals Lyriques, through which in May of the inaccuracy in his recordings, but to a musician of his version heard here is the one made two years earlier. issued at the time, whilst the Berceuse had been same year he conducted the Paris première of stature, the message of the music was paramount. It The four Impromptus from 1933 was Cortot’s only recorded at the marathon session of 5th July 1933 and in Götterdämmerung. The following year he organized should also be remembered that if the artist was not published version (a later set from September 1943 was Paris in 1943, but neither was released. another society, enabling him to give performances of satisfied with a 78rpm side he could record it over again not issued). A contemporary review found the playing major works such as Brahms’s German Requiem, until he was. Like Anton Rubinstein, Cortot always had to be ‘too businesslike, too cavalier for the gentle, © 2005 Jonathan Summers Liszt’s St Elisabeth, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and an image in his mind by which the mood of the work Wagner’s Parsifal, and not long after he became was transmitted to the listener. For the recording of conductor of the Société Nationale, promoting works Chopin’s Preludes heard here he offered his poetic by contemporary French composers. adumbrations of the moods such as ‘Waiting feverishly Cortot was a multi-faceted musician, a conductor for the loved one’ for No. 1; ‘The road to the abyss’ for Producer’s Note and chamber music player as well as solo pianist. He No. 16 and ‘The snow falls, the wind howls, the formed a famous piano trio with Jacques Thibaud and tempest rages, but in my sad heart there is a more This volume is the first of five devoted to Cortot’s 78-rpm era recordings of Chopin. The series will feature at least Pablo Casals, but it was as a pianist that he became terrible storm’ for No. 8. Interestingly, a reviewer of one version of every published Chopin solo work the pianist recorded during the period, and will also include some renowned. He was appointed by Gabriel Fauré to a Cortot’s 1933 version of No. 8 thought it ‘can only be which were unissued on shellac discs. teaching post at the Paris Conservatoire, but was in compared to lightning, or to a rapid, crystal-clear Cortot recorded many of these works several times over, and the emphasis here will be on versions which have such demand as a performer that he was invariably stream scintillating in the sun’. not been reissued quite as frequently as others. For example, the 1926 early electric recording of the Preludes has away on tour. In 1918 he made his first tour of Cortot recorded many of Chopin’s works many been chosen over the more commonly-known 1933 remake. The 1950 version of the Raindrop Prelude has never America, and during his second tour in 1920 he played times. There are three published versions of the appeared on CD outside Japan, while the 1931 Tarantelle is here making its first CD appearance anywhere. all five of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos in two complete Preludes Op. 28 recorded in 1926, 1933 and The sources for the complete set of Preludes and the Impromptus were U.S. Victor “Z” pressings, while the evenings and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 1942. Between 1926 and 1928, however, he recorded remaining items were taken from British HMV shellacs. with the composer present. Also at this time he founded the complete Preludes no less than four times. The first Mark Obert-Thorn 8.111023 2 3 8.111023 111023 bk Cortot EU 7/10/2005 10:15am Page 4

CHOPIN, Vol. 1 ∞ Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 45 4:12 8.111023 Recorded 4th November, 1949 Great Pianists • Cortot 24 Preludes, Op. 28 33:47 in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 3, London ADD 1 No. 1 in C major 0:39 Matrix: 2EA 14284-1 2 No. 2 in A minor 2:06 First issued on HMV DB 21018 3 No. 3 in G major 0:55 4 No. 4 in E minor 1:54 § Prelude in D flat major, Op. 28, No. 15 4:44 5 No. 5 in D major 0:32 Recorded 30th October, 1950 6 No. 6 in B minor 1:51 in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 3, London CHOPIN 7 No. 7 in A major 0:38 Matrix: 2EA 15166-2 8 No. 8 in F sharp minor 1:38 First issued on HMV DB 21175 9 No. 9 in E major 1:22 0 No. 10 in C sharp minor 0:28 ¶ Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57 4:09 Preludes ! No. 11 in B major 0:29 Recorded 4th November, 1949 @ No. 12 in G sharp minor 1:04 in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 3, London # No. 13 in F sharp major 2:41 Matrix: 2EA 14285-1A Impromptus $ No. 14 in E flat minor 0:29 First issued on HMV DB 21175 % No. 15 in D flat major 4:30 ^ No. 16 in B flat minor 1:02 Impromptus 17:59 Berceuse & No. 17 in A flat major 2:45 • No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 29 3:47 * No. 18 in F minor 0:47 ª No. 2 in F sharp major, Op. 36 5:01 ( No. 19 in E flat major 1:08 º No. 3 in G flat major, Op. 51 4:32 ) No. 20 in C minor 1:24 ⁄ Fantasie-Impromptu in C sharp minor, Op. 66 4:39 Tarantelle ¡ No. 21 in B flat major 1:33 Recorded 5th July, 1933 ™ No. 22 in G minor 0:42 in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 3, London £ No. 23 in F major 0:40 Matrices: 2B 5222-1, 5224-2, 5223-2 and 5225-1 ¢ No. 24 in D minor 2:30 First issued on HMV DB 2021 and 2022 Recorded 22nd - 23rd March, 1926 in HMV Studio A, Hayes ¤ Tarantelle in A flat major, Op. 43 3:11 Matrices: Cc 8168-1, 8157-3, 8158-2, 8170-1, Recorded 13th May, 1931 8169-2, 8159-1, 8160-3 and 8161-3 in Studio C, Queen’s Small Hall, London First issued on HMV DB 957 through 960 Matrix: 0B 882-1 Alfred Cortot First issued on HMV DA 1213 1926-1950 Recordings

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CMYK N AXOS Historical 8.111023 CHOPIN Playing ADD Alfred Cortot (1877-1962) Time

DISC PROHIBITED. BROADCASTING AND COPYING OF THIS COMPACT TRANSLATIONS RESERVED. UNAUTHORISED PUBLIC PERFORMANCE, RIGHTS IN THIS SOUND RECORDING, ARTWORK, TEXTS AND ALL 68:03 8.111023 78rpm recordings • 1 &

2005 Naxos Rights International Ltd. A multi-faceted musician, 1-¢ 24 Preludes, Op. 28 33:47 conductor and chamber music player, Alfred Cortot Recorded 22nd - 23rd March, 1926 in HMV Studio A, Hayes CORTOT: Chopin: Preludes • Impromptus was renowned above all as a pianist. This Naxos re-issue ∞ Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 45 4:12 is the first of five volumes Recorded 4th November, 1949 in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 3, devoted to Cortot’s 78rpm London era recordings of Chopin, featuring at least one version § Prelude in D flat major, Op. 28, No. 15 4:44 of every published Chopin Recorded 30th October, 1950 in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 3, solo work the pianist London recorded during the period. As Cortot recorded many of ¶ Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57 4:09 these works several times Recorded 4th November, 1949 in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 3, over, the emphasis will be on London versions which have not been reissued as frequently •-⁄ Impromptus 17:59 as others. For example, on this first disc the 1926 early Recorded 5th July, 1933 in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 3, London electric recording of the ¤ Tarantelle in A flat major, Op. 43 3:11 Op. 28 Preludes has been chosen over the more Recorded 13th May, 1931 in Studio C, Queen’s Small Hall, London commonly-known 1933

CORTOT: Chopin: Preludes • Impromptus Chopin: Preludes CORTOT: remake. MADE IN THE EU A complete track list can be found on page 4 of the booklet. Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn Special thanks to Nathan Brown, Michael Gartz, the International Piano Archives at the University of Maryland 8.111023 (IPAM), Farhan Malik, Donald E. Manildi and Charles Niss www.naxos.com

AXOS Historical Cover Photograph: Alfred Cortot (Private Collection) N