Louis Diémer (1843-1919): Chopin - Nocturne in Db op.27 no.2

Louis Diémer was a well-known piano performer and pedagogue in the 19th century, and taught many prominent pianists. Franck composed his Variations Symphoniques for him and he worked closely with many of the major French composers of the time, performing premieres of works by Saint-Saëns, Franck, Fauré and Lalo amongst others.

His own playing is technically highly refined, in the ultra-clear French manner. The playing verges on the over-neat, almost even sometimes austere.

His few recordings are mostly of his own salon works. This recording of Chopin's Nocturne in D flat was made in c.1903-04.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Louis
• Diémer
• piano
• recording
• classical
• chopin
• nocturne
• Db
• flat
• op.
• 27
• no.2.

[Noshirm]

The majority of today's listeners wouldn't recognize a great work or a great performance if either were to hit them right between the eyes! For those who admire Lang Lang and his ilk, this performance will seem unacceptable. For those who hear it with historical understanding, it will make far more sense. Diemer's approach is almost frigid, but it has its own icy beauty that reveals itself upon successive hearings. Thank you for this valuable and beautiful posting.

[larsnelissen]

Thanks for posting, I didn't know these recordings existed! Louis Diemer was Alfred Cortot's principal teacher.

[acortot]

If you pay attention to all these early recordings you can hear that pianos in those days had a more vocal nasal quality. The attack of the note jumps out like a voice singing 'laa' or 'daa' and there is a quick decay to a quieter sustained portion of the sound. Todays pianos are built for maximum sustain and the initial attack is more of a metallic sound from the strings. The end result as noted by broadwood 1830 is that to achieve the same degree of clarity tempos must be modified.

[saunsnaen]

I'm sure that he was playing fast to beat the 78 record limit. Still it is a very evocative and moving performance except for his really bad arrpeggio ending which would have appalled Chopin One can clearly hear the influence on Cortot.

[broadwood1830]

it`s quite not to fast!!!. chopin allways wrote down tempo of plying his compositions. But in times from new pianos who are able to hold a tone ablut 3 minutes it is really difficult to play in the real tempo so all interprets of tody play chopin to slow. To hear Chopin played on an historical pinao in the real time ist marvelous

[gerardbedecarter]

I haven't checked it with [Chopin's?] metronome marking but Diemer's tempo seems fast to me! He, of course, ran out of time at the end and had to truncate his performance. Maybe he rushed it to try and fit it on the 78 disc.

[caijpp]

Absolutely breathtaking! It's so refreshing!

[Noshirm]

I believe there was more than a hint of exploitation on their part. Helfgott IS gifted. He is no musical clown - but his style is personalized and unusual. It sounds stuffy of me to mention this, but I think albums of 'serious' music SHOULD be set apart as being different from the rest of what's out there. They should be presented with good taste, all the way from the publicity to the liner notes that accompany the recording. The album art, too, should be appropriate to the spirit of the music.

[nickus32000]

Clearly he was taken advantage of by the recording industry then. Sad story.

[Noshirm]

David Helfgott is his name. But I feel very bad for him, because he has struggled with a psychoaffective disorder. He studied with a great pianist, Cyril Smith, whose teacher Herbert Fryer had worked with Franklin Taylor, a pupil of Clara Schumann, and also with Busoni. I agree that his recordings may not be indicative of his best work - his playing in concerts at home may be more finely poised. The marketing for those discs, I recall, was tacky. "Brilliantissimo" was the name of one of them!!

[nickus32000]

This comment by you also brings to mind the movie shine. After that movie came out the performers (who's name I can't even remember) released a best selling recording of the Rach 3 that sounded like it was played by a retarded chimpanzee.

[Noshirm]

Thank you! And I entirely concur with you in this matter. Lang Lang...well, I guess I shouldn't open a can of worms here! I, too, have a marked preference for the Slavic school.