* FOURNIER, Pierre(24th Jun. 1906 ~ 8th Jan. 1986)
[ Prince of the cello ]
Pierre
Fournier is a member of glorious school of French cellists in
20th century after Casals - from Paul Bazelaire and Maurice Maréchal, Fournier,
Tortelier, Navara, and Gendron - and perhaps most famous in them.
He is almost incarnation of 'gracefulness' used in depicting
French players, called 'Prince of the cello'. What a good and enviable nickname!
He was born in
Paris as a son of army general, from a musical family(His brother
Jean is also a famous violinist, whose wife is Jeanette Doyen -
Jean Doyen's sister. He made trio team with Badura-Skoda and
Antonio Janigro and recorded many trio repertoires at Westminster
label). He learned piano, but suffered from polio and changed to
cello at nine because he had problems in pedaling from the
aftereffects of it. He was taught from 1918 by André Hekking, later
famous teacher Paul Bazelaire in Paris Conservatoire. He
graduated at the first prize in 1923, making début next year in Paris. He became solist of
Colonne Orchestra on Jan. 1927, starting concert tour in Europe.
Invited by Berlin Philharmonic in 1933 he went to Germany, which
established his international fame. Maybe he knew Furtwängler at this
time, and broadcast recording of Dvorák concerto 2nd mvt.(1942;
more or less dubious) and Schumann concerto 3rd mvt. remained.
His activity in chamber music right after début was very
impressive. In 1943, he succeeded Casals in the legendary trio
whose other members were Alfred Cortot
and Jacques Thibaud. His affection to this genre is essential to his
career. From 1941 to 1949 he taught at Paris Conservatoire, when
he recorded mainly for EMI under Walter Legge's control after
WWII. 'Introuvable de Fournier' by EMI(4 CD set), and Fauré's Piano quartet No.2 recording in 1940(with
Marguerite Long and Thibaud) represent
this years.
After quitting the teaching job, he
concertrated on all of his time to concert performances. His début at USA was 1948, USSR 1961(where he carried a
jury of Tchaikovsky Concour with Rostropovich), Japan, and Korea
in 1978. His partner at podium
were almost all of the famous conductors in 20th century,
including Furtwängler, Walter, Szell, Kubelik, Karajan, Clemens Krauss, Cellibidache,
Martinon, and Karl Münchinger. Other partners were Backhaus, Kempff, Gulda, Rubinstein, Schnabel, Firkusny, Lipatti,
David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Richter, Francescatti, Szerying, and Szigeti, etc.
- all-star members. After late 1960s, he liked to play with his
son Jean-Pierre(as Jean Fonda at records). In 1953, French
government honored him by Région d'honeur. His bow was stopped on 8th
Jan. 1986 by a stroke, shortly before his second visit to Korea.
His artistry was 'deriving most of gracefulness of the work he played'. His tone and musical fluence is never hard, and so fluent that I usually come to forget it is very difficult to play cello like him. But his beautiful tone does never spoil the whole musical span, which shows his supreme experience and musicality. Listening to Casals I realize his humanity and deep concentration on the essence of the works he thought to be, and to Rostropovich I am moved by his overwhelming technique, power, and vast scale. Fournier always has me consider again how beautiful the works are. Obviously, difficult to judge which of the two player is better, I think Fournier is somewhat better than Rostropovich in the recordings from baroque to classical era. The latter often shows some disaccord to his partners, but Fournier never. And his ensemble is almost such an instinct that his best realm seems to be chamber music, I think(Perhaps it is prejudice from my taste. ^^). Of course, it depends on the playing style, but isn't it minus if a cellist has problem at chamber music?
His recordings are
released much as CD, and lucky in transffering. Mainly EMI From début to mid 50s, Decca in 50s. His most important
career as recording artist is a 'title cellist' representing DG
from late 50s to late 60s, after which he recorded freely at RCA,
EMI, Erato, Philips, and Sony. My discography includes almost all
of the so-called standard cello repertoire(though he did not
record as many comtemporaries as Rostropovich). Of course DG is
the central company, but considerable amount in other companies
But,
it is natural that his representative recordings be those of DG
in his peak times. In that aspect, I want to recommend Haydn's D major and
Boccherini's B flat major concertos(DG) above all. Being really classical and full of
dignity, I have never heard better than this though text is
somewhat romantic in the viewpoint of authenticism. Bach's unaccompanied cello
suites(Archiv) is next. I think this is
the best record by modern cello even though including Casals' legendary one. His graceful and
balanced playing is perfectly matched to Bach's music. These two
recordings are essential to Fournier's fans. Accompanied by Szell/BPO, Dvorák's
concerto(DG) is one of the best
recording of this work, especially the best in the aspect of
harmony between solo and orchestra. This record is the best
choice to the newly listener of this work. Other famous concertos are Lalo, Saint-Saëns No.1(DG),
Bruch's 'Kol Nidrei'(DG), and the reputation of R.Strauss' 'Don
Quixote' conducted by Szell(Sony) and Karajan(DG) have already been firmed.
Beethoven and Brahms' sonatas are
recommendable in his chamber music
recordings. Beethoven's sonatas was recorded three times, in
which I want to name the ones with Gulda(studio) and Kempff(Paris
live), all of DG label. Though Kempff
made some mistakes, I think the later live recording is somewhat
better in the aspect of equivalent fusion of two players, and
cheaper(^^). In Brahms' sonatas, only the record with
Backhaus(Decca) is now available, but very great and at the
summit. The nexts are trio recordings with Artur Rubinstein and
Henryk Szerying, including Brahms' Nos.1~3, Schumann's No.1, and
Schubert's Nos. 1 &2(all RCA label). These are one of the
most beautiful trio records after Oistrakh trio's EMI recording.
B
eethoven's complete trios with Kempff and
Szerying(DG) are also good, recorded in 1969~70(Beethoven's
bicentennial). Other sonatas are 'Arpeggione' with his son(DG),
Bach with Ruzickova(Erato), Poulenc(EMI), and Debussy &
Martinu(Sony). Small pieces(DG) is proud of his very
sophisticated style and was available by double series and now by
Original Masters release.
Perhaps it's nothing to be desired if a great artist is also good-natured. Fournier seemed to be so. Friedrich Gulda does not resemble Fournier in any way, but Gulda played with him in about 30 concerts and recorded Beethoven's complete sonatas. He said "He was the more seasoned, and my superior. I owe him a great deal. I learnt a huge amount from him, musically, about taking things seriously, and he guided me, kindly but also very strenuously." Of no other musician does Gulda spoke with so much respect, affection and warmth as Fournier. Later, Heinrich Schiff tried to persuade gulda to join him in a new recording of the Beethoven's sonatas, but in vain. Gulda said to him, "Don't build up your hopes. I was so spoilt by Fournier that it's out of the question for me, great as it might be."
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Created ; 29th
Aug. 2000
Last update ; 4th Jun. 2007