Jules Massenet - Piano Music (Aldo Ciccolini)

Information

Composer: Jules Massenet

CD1

• Piano Concerto in E flat major
• Deux pièces
• Deux Impromptus
• Toccata in B flat major
• Musique pour Bercer les petits enfants
• Dix pièces de genre, Op. 10
• Sept Improvisations

CD2

• Valse folle
• Valse très lente
• Devant la Madonne (souvenir de la campagne de Rome, nuit de Noël, 1864)
• Année Passée
• Six danses
• Trois marches
• La Vierge, danse galiléenne
• Première Suite, Op. 11
• Deux berceuses

Aldo Ciccolini, piano

Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo

Sylvain Cambreling, conductor

Compilation: 2003

Label: EMI

-----------------------------------------------------------

Jules Massenet (12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer. Born near Saint-Étienne, France, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Ambroise Thomas and won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1863. Massenet composed more than 24 operas; his most famous works include Manon, Werther and Thaïs. In addition to opera, he wrote more than 200 songs, a piano concerto, orchestral suites and oratorios. Massenet was also highly influential as a teacher of composition at the Paris Conservatoire. Among his students were Gustave Charpentier, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn and Gabriel Pierné.

***

Aldo Ciccolini (15 August 1925 – 1 February 2015) was an Italian-born French pianist and pedagogue. A prodigy, he studied at the Naples Conservatory, earning top prizes before launching an international career after winning the 1949 Marguerite Long–Jacques Thibaud Competition. He later became a French citizen and taught at the Conservatoire de Paris for nearly two decades. Ciccolini was especially admired for his interpretations of French composers such as Ravel, Debussy and Satie, as well as Liszt. He also produced over 100 recordings, including acclaimed complete sonata cycles by Mozart and Beethoven.

-----------------------------------------------------------