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! © SM/Qobuz