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French music is a domain dear to your heart, which you have served
over and over again. But it so happens that you have recorded almost
no Fauré, except for a few songs. As for Pierné, is this a recording first for
you?
A.C.
: I used to play Pierné’s
Étude de concert
in C minor a great deal, a very beautiful
and very difficult piece, but it’s true this is the first time I’ve recorded anything by
him.
Viennoise
is extremely tricky to interpret. It’s not just a question of meeting
the requirements of a highly complex and detailed style of writing – which is really
admirable in itself! You also have to grasp a special character, one that has nothing
in common with the waltzes of Chopin or Brahms.
Regarding Fauré, I’d like to record his thirteen Nocturnes, which I had the
opportunity to give complete in concert in Milan nearly fifteen years ago. But it
must be acknowledged that the music of Fauré, though rich in incomparable
beauties, is so complex that it becomes downright uncomfortable. It’s not natural
piano writing.
13WALTZES