Francis Plante plays "Serenade of Mephistopheles" by Berlioz

Berlioz: La damnation de Faust, Op. 24: Devant la maison, "Serenade of Mephistopheles" (arr. E. Redon)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• francis
• plante
• berlioz
• piano
• classical

[marcussalieri]

j adore

[marcussalieri]

bravo simple elegant comme du cramer

[smithsherman]

I think that his playing has the same quality of Reinecke's,that of being,cutsey and whimsical,.but certainly not "compelling"

[smithsherman]

Just because he was a highly regarded French classicist in Romantic times,doesn't necessarily mean he'll warm your toes.

[smithsherman]

Judging by Plante's contemporaries his playing in the 1920s was perfectly well preserved which in view of his age,was seen as an anomaly.

[smithsherman]

Plante was regarded as a dry technical classical type by his contemporaries.

He liked the agogical approach that goes better with Dussek,Cramer,Ries,and Kalkbrenner etc...You're more attracted to a warmer more evocative style vocal style of Post-Bellini France.Plante for his day is like Reinecke,or even Thalberg..a bit of a "Throwback" and creating more interesting articulation than florid gesture.

[d60944]

I hace some difficulty with the Plante recordings: they are far from compelling me. I find the recording by the likes of Diemer, Pugno and Saint-Saens far more convincing as exponents of the "French" school of the period. When I listen to Plante (and I have done extensively), I am sort of just made to think I am hearing the remnants of a great pianist. What is really needed is a study of Plante's piano rolls from prior to his nonangenarian recordings, to see whether and how the style differs.

[smithsherman]

Obviously Plante's work carries enormous significance for us today.What piques my interest is that he is a conservative classistically oriented player(as considered by his contemporaries),but by modern standards,he's beyond acceptable ...consider-

ably.Clearly we've erred.