Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Alexis Emmanuel Chabrier, Claude Achille Debussy, Sergey Prokofiev, Sergey Rachmaninov, Charles Camille Saint-Saëns, Erik Alfred Leslie Satie, Robert Schumann
Performer: Cécile Ousset
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Eloquence
Catalogue: ELQ4827395
Release: 2019
Size: 1.48 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Debussy: 12 Etudes, L.136
01. 7. Pour les degrés chromatiques
02. 11. Pour les arpèges composés
03. 3. Pour les quartes
04. 5. Pour les octaves
Satie: 3 Gymnopédies
05. No. 1 Lent et douloureux
06. No. 2 Lent et triste
07. No. 3 Lent et grave
08. Saint-Saëns: Étude en forme de valse No. 6, Op. 52
Saint-Saëns: Six Études, Op. 111
09. Toccata d’après le cinquième concerto, Op. 111
Chabrier: 10 Pièces pittoresques
10. 6. Idylle
11. 10. Scherzo-valse
Chabrier: Bourrée fantasque
12. Bourrée fantasque
Rachmaninov: Morceaux de Fantasie, Op. 3
13. No. 1 Elégie
14. No. 2 Prélude in C sharp minor
15. No. 3 Mélodie
16. No. 4 Polichinelle
17. No. 5 Sérénade
Rachmaninov: Morceaux de salon, Op. 10
18. 5. Humoreske
Prokofiev: 10 Pieces for Piano, Op. 12
19. 1. Marche
20. 2. Gavotte
21. 3. Rigaudon
22. 4. Mazurka
23. 5. Capriccio
24. 6. Légende
25. 7. Prélude
26. 8. Allemande
27. 9. Scherzo humoristique
28. 10. Scherzo
Schumann: Carnaval, Op. 9
29. Préambule
30. Pierrot
31. Arlequin
32. Valse noble
33. Eusebius
34. Florestan
35. Coquette
36. Réplique
37. Papillons
38. A.S.C.H. – S.C.H.A. (Lettres dansantes)
39. Chiarina
40. Chopin
41. Estrella
42. Reconnaissance
43. Pantalon et Colombine
44. Valse allemande
45. Paganini
46. Aveu
47. Promenade
48. Pause
49. Marche des “Davidsbünler” contre les Philistins
Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 35
50. Book 1
51. Book 2
52. Beethoven: 9 Variations on a March by Dressler, WoO 63
53. Beethoven: 6 Variations on a Swiss Song in F Major, WoO 64
54. Beethoven: 9 Variations on ‘Quant’e piu bello’, WoO 69
55. Beethoven: 24 Variations on Righini’s Arietta “Venni amore”, WoO 65
56. Beethoven: 6 Piano Variations in G on “Nel cor più non mi sento”, WoO 70
57. Beethoven: 13 Variations on ‘Es war einmal ein alter Mann’, WoO 66
58. Beethoven: 12 Variations on ‘Menuet a la Vigano’, WoO 68
59. Beethoven: 8 Variations on ‘Une fièvre brûlante’, WoO 72
60. Beethoven: 6 Variations in G Major, WoO 77
61. Beethoven: 6 Piano Variations in F, Op.34
62. Beethoven: 7 Variations on “God Save the King”, WoO 78
63. Beethoven: 7 Variations on ‘Kind, willst du ruhig schlafen’, WoO 75
64. Beethoven: 5 Piano Variations in D on “Rule Britannia”, WoO 79
65. Beethoven: 8 Variations on ‘Tändeln und Scherzen’, WoO 76
66. Beethoven: 6 Variations on an Original Theme (The Turkish March from The Ruins of Athens) in D Major, Op.76
67. Beethoven: 32 Piano Variations in C Minor on an original theme, WoO 80
68. Beethoven: 12 Variations on the Russian Dance from ‘Das Waldmädchen’, WoO 71
69. Beethoven: 10 Variations on “La stessa, la stessissima”, WoO 73
Beethoven: 15 Piano Variations And Fugue In E Flat, Op.35 -“Eroica Variations”
70. Introduzione col Basso del Tema: Allegretto vivace
71. Tema
72. Variation 1
73. Variation 2
74. Variation 3
75. Variation 4
76. Variation 5
77. Variation 6
78. Variation 7 – Canone all’ottava
79. Variation 8
80. Variation 9
81. Variation 10
82. Variation 11
83. Variation 12
84. Variation 13
85. Variation 14
86. Variation 15 – Largo
87. Coda
88. Finale: Alla Fuga – Allegro con brio – Andante con moto
Beethoven: 33 Piano Variations in C, Op.120 on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli
89. Tema (Vivace)
90. Variation 1 (Alla marcia maestoso)
91. Variation 2 (Poco allegro)
92. Variation 3 (L’istesso tempo)
93. Variation 4 (Un poco più vivace)
94. Variation 5 (Allegro vivace)
95. Variation 6 (Allegro ma non troppo e serioso)
96. Variation 7 (Un poco più allegro)
97. Variation 8 (Poco vivace)
98. Variation 9 (Allegro pesante e risoluto)
99. Variation 10 (Presto)
100. Variation 11 (Allegretto)
101. Variation 12 (Un poco più moto)
102. Variation 13 (Vivace)
103. Variation 14 (Grave e maestoso)
104. Variation 15 (Presto scherzando)
105. Variation 16 (Allegro)
106. Variation 17
107. Variation 18 (Poco moderato)
108. Variation 19 (Presto)
109. Variation 20 (Andante)
110. Variation 21 (Allegro con brio – Meno allegro – Tempo I)
111. Variation 22 (Allegro molto): Alla “Notte e giorno faticar” di Mozart
112. Variation 23 (Allegro assai)
113. Variation 24 Fughetta (Andante)
114. Variation 25 (Allegro)
115. Variation 26
116. Variation 27 (Vivace)
117. Variation 28 (Allegro)
118. Variation 29 (Adagio ma non troppo)
119. Variation 30 (Andante, sempre cantabile)
120. Variation 31 (Largo, molto espressivo)
121. Variation 32 Fuga (Allegro – Poco adagio)
122. Variation 33 (Tempo di minuetto moderato, ma non tirarsi dietro)
The early recordings of a keyboard lioness, long unavailable and new to CD.
Not generally given to extravagant effusions, William Glock (Controller of Radio 3 and the BBC Proms in the 1970s) had no doubt: ‘There is no one who plays the piano better in the world than she does. There is no one with a more fantastic command of the piano … not over felt, not under-felt, nothing rushed just to show off and yet the greatest playing I’ve heard for years’.
He was referring to the French pianist Cécile Ousset, whose career had belatedly sparked to life and international recognition with appearances across the UK and US and a new contract with EMI Records. Yet prior to this Ousset had made several recordings since her success in the late 1950s at several major European competitions. She accumulated a considerable catalogue on Eterna, the East German label, but then Ousset signed to make recordings with Sofrason, the Société Française du Son. These were licensed for wider release by the French arm of Decca, but Sofrason went out of business in 1981 and the recordings have never been reissued – until now. This new Eloquence set includes an appreciation of Ousset’s art by the French pianophile Jean-Charles Hoffélé.
These ‘French Decca’ recordings all date from 1971–76, and they include much solo repertoire that Ousset never recorded again, though they share similar qualities with the much-acclaimed concerto recordings that she made in the 1980s: an unsentimental palette of rubato and tone-colour, a fearless and brilliant command of articulation, and a uniquely French mastery of jeu perlé.
The first album made an imaginative and attractive compilation of fin-de-siècle Parisians from Saint-Saëns to Satie. The second displayed her particular affinity with the Russian post-Romantics, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev; and the third coupled two landmarks of German-Romantic piano literature, by Brahms and Schumann. These all received a later international LP issue on the ‘Ace of Diamonds’ imprint and to very warm reviews.
However, Ousset’s last recordings from this period encompassed the complete variations of Beethoven, issued by French Decca in two volumes (a 3LP and a 2LP box). Its disappearance particularly dismayed Ousset herself: ‘I made a big effort on that one,’ she remarked in a 1984 interview, ‘and it came off beautifully’.
‘Ousset has exactly the sort of glitteringly virtuosic technique, as well as the unflagging energy, which [these pieces] demand. Her playing is vividly recorded, giving an effect of real immediacy.’ Gramophone, January 1980 (French recital)
‘Ousset’s performance is vital and assured, grandly shaped where grandeur is in place, capable of brilliance and a certain cool aggression, tonally apt. In eschewing unnecessary colouring she never starves the music of tone.’ Gramophone, August 1975 (Brahms/Schumann)