Name: Cécile Ousset: The Recordings For Decca France by Cécile Ousset
Brand: Cécile Ousset
SKU: 028948403318
Price: 9.9 USD
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Rating: 3 (854 reviews)

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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’. (© Decca Music Group Limited / Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd.)

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Cécile Ousset: The Recordings For Decca France

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1. Debussy: 12 Etudes, L.136 - 7. Pour les degrés chromatiques

2. Debussy: 12 Etudes, L.136 - 11. Pour les arpèges composés

3. Debussy: 12 Etudes, L.136 - 3. Pour les quartes

4. Debussy: 12 Etudes, L.136 - 5. Pour les octaves

5. Satie: 3 Gymnopédies - No.1 Lent et douloureux

6. Satie: 3 Gymnopédies - No.2 Lent et triste

7. Satie: 3 Gymnopédies - No.3 Lent et grave

8. Saint-Saëns: Étude en forme de valse, Op.52

9. Saint-Saëns: Toccata, Étude d'après le 5ème concerto, Op.111

10. Chabrier: 10 Pièces pittoresques - 6. Idylle

11. Chabrier: 10 Pièces pittoresques - 10. Scherzo-valse

12. Chabrier: Bourrée fantasque

13. Rachmaninov: Morceaux de Fantasie, Op.3 - No.1 Elégie

14. Rachmaninov: Morceaux de Fantasie, Op.3 - No.2 Prélude in C sharp minor

15. Rachmaninov: Morceaux de Fantasie, Op.3 - No.3 Mélodie

16. Rachmaninov: Morceaux de Fantasie, Op.3 - No.4 Polichinelle

17. Rachmaninov: Morceaux de Fantasie, Op.3 - No.5 Sérénade

18. Rachmaninov: Morceaux de Salon, Op.10 - 5. Humoreske

19. Prokofiev: 10 Pieces for Piano, Op.12 - 1. Marche

20. Prokofiev: 10 Pieces for Piano, Op.12 - 2. Gavotte

21. Prokofiev: 10 Pieces for Piano, Op.12 - 3. Rigaudon

22. Prokofiev: 10 Pieces for Piano, Op.12 - 4. Mazurka

23. Prokofiev: 10 Pieces for Piano, Op.12 - 5. Capriccio

24. Prokofiev: 10 Pieces for Piano, Op.12 - 6. Légende

25. Prokofiev: 10 Pieces for Piano, Op.12 - 7. Prélude

26. Prokofiev: 10 Pieces for Piano, Op.12 - 8. Allemande

27. Prokofiev: 10 Pieces for Piano, Op.12 - 9. Scherzo humoristique

28. Prokofiev: 10 Pieces for Piano, Op.12 - 10. Scherzo

29. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Préambule

30. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Pierrot

31. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Arlequin

32. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Valse noble

33. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Eusebius

34. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Florestan

35. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Coquette

36. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Réplique

37. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Papillons

38. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - A.S.C.H. - S.C.H.A. (Lettres dansantes)

39. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Chiarina

40. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Chopin

41. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Estrella

42. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Reconnaissance

43. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Pantalon et Colombine

44. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Valse allemande

45. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Paganini

46. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Aveu

47. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Promenade

48. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Pause

49. Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9 - Marche des "Davidsbünler" contre les Philistins

50. Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op.35 - Book 1

51. Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op.35 - 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

70. Beethoven: 15 Piano Variations and Fugue in E flat, Op.35 -"Eroica Variations" - Introduzione col Basso del Tema: Allegretto vivace

71. Beethoven: 15 Piano Variations and Fugue in E flat, Op.35 -"Eroica Variations" - Tema

72. Beethoven: 15 Piano Variations and Fugue in E flat, Op.35 -"Eroica Variations" - Variation 1

73. Beethoven: 15 Piano Variations and Fugue in E flat, Op.35 -"Eroica Variations" - Variation 2

74. Beethoven: 15 Piano Variations and Fugue in E flat, Op.35 -"Eroica Variations" - Variation 3

75. Beethoven: 15 Piano Variations and Fugue in E flat, Op.35 -"Eroica Variations" - Variation 4

76. Beethoven: 15 Piano Variations and Fugue in E flat, Op.35 -"Eroica Variations" - Variation 5