Francis Planté (1839-1934): Boccherini - Minuetto

Francis Planté was France's most important pianist in the nineteenth century, after Chopin. He started his concert life at age seven in Paris, where Chopin was also performing, and so heard him play. By 1850 he had won a First Prize from the Paris Conservatoire. He went on to befriend Rossini, through whom he was introduced to most of the important musical figures of the day, many of whom he got to know and with whom he formed lasting friendships. During the 1860s he duetted with both Saint-Saëns and Liszt, and established himself as the leading French pianist of the day. He was recorded at age 89, rather past his best no doubt, in a single set of specially arranged recording sessions in his own retirement villa over a few days in 1928.

His musical style has its roots in the French tradition of crisp and accurate finesse, a sort of pearly-clean touch and not vast amounts of indulgence in romantic tugging at the rhythms. He was best known for the shorter romantic works in the piano repertoire, but it is a moot point as to how much his own playing resembles that of pianists such as Chopin (when we compare him to performers such as Koczalski, Rosenthal and Pachmann for example, all of whom had attachments to the "authentic" Chopin tradition).

This is Planté's own charmingly wayward interpretation of the famous minuet by Boccherini.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Francis
• Planté
• piano
• recording
• classical
• boccherini
• minuet
• minuetto

[smithsherman]

This is what it sounded like....

[arwena55]

Bravo!!!!!

[bossanovaboy]

he may be really great but this rhythmic treatment of the work almost destroys its elegance and beauty...

[smithsherman]

A unifying characteristic I find in musicians,

cylinders,& mechanical devices of any kind made or born before 1850 is this playing way out in front of the beat.Which is not the (rubato-flexing) of the central tempo.This performance attribute was not just common to

those mediums,but inhabited ensemble playing too,which today players think is impossible.

Clearly it was a cultural reality to see the

perceived downbeat not as a bullseye to be hit,but rather as a bob to be teased.

[lalablt]

the music quality is not the best, but, whatever. I just needed to know what the song sounded like...