Agnelle Bundervoet - Complete Recordings On Decca France

Three exceptionally rare Decca LPs of a much prized French pianist, newly remastered and released on CD for the first time. Rheumatism forced Agnelle Bundervoët to retire from the platform at the peak of her career in the late 1950s, though she continued to pass on to her students at the Conservatoire of Versailles the beautifully defined articulation, mastery of high expressive contrasts, and remarkable rhythmic drive that distinguish the recordings of Schumann, Brahms and Liszt on this collection, which will attract the attention of all pianophiles. One of those students was Frédéric Gaussin, who contributes a personal memoir and authoritative survey of her life and career to this Eloquence collection. He remembers Bundervoët as a very demanding teacher: ‘implacable but fair, generous, an acute psychologist, a spiritual person, dispensing pieces, studies and writing exercises with the knowledge and far-sightedness of a world-class physician’. Born in 1922, Bundervoët began to learn the piano at the age of four, and within three years she was enrolled at the conservatoire in Marseilles. She was accepted at the Paris Conservatoire by the age of ten, even though she was too young to undertake the formal program of study, but the pedagogue Lazare-Levy recognised her exceptional intellect, prodigious technique and innate musical gifts. She was awarded the conservatoire’s Premier Prix for six years in succession, and her talents extended beyond the piano to singing, organ playing

Tracks

1~1~Rhapsodie Espagnole, S.254
1~2~Au Bord D’Une Source (No. 4 Of Années De Pèlerinage, Première Année: Suisse, S.160)
1~3~Valse Oubliée, S.215 No. 1
1~4~Gnomenreigen (No. 2 Of Études De Concert, S.145)
1~5~No. 4 In E Major (Arpeggio)
1~6~No. 5 In E Major (La Chasse)
1~7~No. 6 In A Minor (Theme And Variations)
1~8~Mephisto Valse No. 1, S.514 Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
1~9~35 Variations And Fugue On A Theme By Handel, Op. 24
2~1~Rhapsody In B Minor, Op. 79 No. 1
2~2~Rhapsody In G Minor, Op. 79 No. 2
2~3~Rhapsody In E Flat Major, Op. 119 No. 4 Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
2~4~4–9 Intermezzi, Op. 4
2~5~10 Toccata In C Major, Op. 7
2~6~11–17 Fantasiestücke, Op. 12

Details

Format: CD
Artist: Agnelle Bundervoet
Release Date: 05 June 2020
Genre: Classical Music
Label: ELOQUENCE / DECCA
Distributor: Universal Music