Composer: Alexandre Pierre François Boëly
Performer: Stephanie McCallum
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCC0471
Release: 2018
Size: 1.33 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
24 Pièces, Op. 20
01. No. 1. Valse
02. No. 2. Romance
03. No. 3. Andantino
04. No. 4. Scherzo
05. No. 5. Prélude
06. No. 6. Andante sostenuto con espressione
07. No. 7. Romance
08. No. 8. Allegretto con moto
09. No. 9. Valse
10. No. 10. Prélude
11. No. 11. Valse
12. No. 12. Scherzo
Suite No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 16 “Dans le style des anciens maîtres”
13. I. Fuga a 2 soggetti
14. II. Largo
15. III. Polacca
24 Pièces, Op. 20
16. No. 13. Romance
17. No. 14. Moderato con espressione
18. No. 15. Tempo di menuetto
19. No. 16. Danse villageoise
20. No. 17. Andante
21. No. 18. Scherzo
22. No. 19. Larghetto affettuoso
23. No. 20. Allegro con vivacità
24. No. 21. Andantino con moto
25. No. 22. Gavotte
26. No. 23. Marche des pèlerins
27. No. 24. Scherzo
28. Caprice, Op. 7
30 Études, Op. 6
29. No. 11 in E Minor
30. No. 20 in C Minor
Pièces d’étude, Book 3, Op. 13
31. No. 6 in E-Flat Minor
Although Alexandre Boëly (1785–1858) is best remembered as an important Parisian organist-composer, his piano music is as good as unknown. Yet it is an important link between the Baroque and Classical worlds of eighteenth-century France and the emerging Romanticism of the nineteenth. This recording, on an Erard piano from 1853, highlights both its Classical poise and its Romantic charm. It reveals Boely as a forerunner of composers like Saint-Saens, whom he taught, as well as other piano pioneers such as Alkan, Chopin and Liszt, all of whom this prominent Parisian musician and teacher may well have known personally.
On a sumptuous and yet clear 1853 Erard, pianist Stephanie McCallum gives us the first-ever recordings of the piano works of a composer who today is best known (or rather, the least-forgotten) for his organ music: Alexandre Pierre François Boëly (1785-1858). This is the first volume. In 1840, after a career with its ups and downs, Boëly was finally appointed the organist of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois in Paris, but he had the then-crazy idea of playing works by unknown or little-known composers: Bach, Frescobaldi, Couperin. And while he contributed, directly or indirectly, to the education of the organ school of the following generation, through Alkan, Franck, Saint-Saëns or Ambroise Thomas who would come to Saint-Germain to hear him play Bach, he was dismissed in 1851 for his austerity… Until his death he would remain a sought-after and respected piano teacher; his piano works bear witness to his clear admiration for the music of the preceding century, and for the rigorous writing which was of no interest to the then-prevailing school of dishevelled Romanticism. His vision would never approach Chopin or Liszt; he preferred Schumann, and especially Schubert for the clarity of his discourse, his style of development, and the doleful lyricism that he could impart to his music. Here we have many stunning rediscoveries from a composer who has surely earned the right to be released from the purgatory to which he was sadly condemned for his own artistic sincerity, and his disdain for honours and vanities. We await the next instalments with impatience!