Fabienne Jacquinot plays Debussy & Poulenc (Parlophone PMC 1019)

Fabienne Jacquinot's July 7 & 8, 1953 recordings of the Debussy Fantasy for Piano & Orchestra and Poulenc's Aubade, both with Anatole Fistoulari conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the moniker of Westminster Symphony Orchestra.
Jacquinot was a pupil of Yves Nat and was a truly marvellous pianist who played with both remarkable strength and refined sensitivity. She recorded a significant number of 19th and 20th century concerted works for Parlophone from 1951 to 1953. At the same sessions that resulted in the two works presented here she also set down an account of the Piano Concerto No. 5 in F major of Saint-Saëns.
Although she recorded a number of albums in the 1950s and more in the 1980s, she seems to have slipped into obscurity. She died just a few years ago, her greatness unfortunately forgotten.
She plays here with a beautiful array of tonal colours and a broad dynamic range (what a thunderous bass sonority she produces!), sumptuous phrasing, exquisite clarity of texture, and a vibrant rhythmic pulse, with marvellous ensemble with the orchestra.
If you wish to support The Piano Files, please consider membership at my Patreon page: / thepianofiles

[@noshirm6285]

Mark, my thanks and sincere appreciation - N

[@pianomaly9]

Heard these fine performances on an Opus Kura release a number of years ago. Any live Jacquinot performances would be welcome. Also, The Piano Files has brought to light a number of record labels such as Polydor, Parlophone, and Ducretet-Thompson that this listener was mostly familiar with only from 78-RPM releases or not at all, since they may have appeared in record stores under different labels.

[@ThePianoFiles]

I'm very curious about live performances also and hope that some can be found. I have these on a 2-CD set from Japan also - not Opus Kura but a similar label - and that set still lacks some of the other recordings she made at the time. I hope that she will become much better known!

[@christianmarquinaalvanpian5534]

Maravilloso estreno. Bravo. Muchas gracias por compartir estos tesoros musicales, en éstos difíciles momentos de invasión de marketing asiático en la música occidental.

[@trifyllos65]

Splendid, Mark, brilliant!

[@christianmarquinaalvanpian5534]

🎉👏👏👏👏👏🎹🎵🎶🎼