Maurice Crut - Andre Gedalge Violin & Piano Sonata #1, Op. 12

On January 16, 2010, in Paris, the violinist Maurice CRUT died at the age of 94. Member of the Paris Symphony Orchestra, of the Pascal Quartet, professor of chamber music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, his technique and his "sensitive musicality" were admired by music lovers and even by his colleagues, notably Hélène Jourdan-Mohrange who once wrote that "his magnificent bow serves him as much in feats as in these mysterious outfits, so difficult to sustain in pianissimo." The “warm and generous” sound that he managed to get out of his violin gave him playing with infinite charm.
Maurice Crut
Maurice Crut
(private coll.) DR
It was in Paris, in the eighteenth arrondissement, on March 1, 1915 , that Maurice Crut was born. Entering the Paris Conservatory around the age of 15, he obtained in Firmin Touche's violin class, a 2nd prize in 1932, with "delicious phrasing" and the following year, a 1st prize , at the alongside Brel, Gitton, Gravois and Murgier, with the interpretation of the Romantic Poem by Jules Mazelier and a deciphering page written by Philippe Gaubert. Le Ménestrel reported that during these tests, he had demonstrated "lightness, suavity in sonority", with "a good, excellent staccato" and deciphered "as a true artist"! He then perfected his skills with Georges Enesco, to whom he maintained a deep attachment throughout his life. His influence, particularly his very lyrical style, further enriched Maurice Crut's musical sensitivity.
With his first violin prize in hand, Maurice Crut joined the Paris Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1928 by Princess Edmond de Polignac and Gabrielle Chanel. Pierre Monteux has been its permanent conductor since 1929. Maurice Crut was in this group when Yehudi Menuhin, also a student of Enesco, recorded Paganini's 1st Concerto ( May 1934), but in 1938 it was dissolved. At this time, he married Sonia Michline (1910-1996), a violinist with the Orchester National de France (founded in February 1934), then directed by Inghelbrecht. Also 1stviolin prize of the Paris Conservatory (1929, class of Alfred Brun), her virtuosity and her qualities of expression had already been noticed at the beginning of the thirties, among others in the famous Poème de Chausson which she had performed on 26 February 1933 at the Concerts Pasdeloup.
In 1941, in Marseille, where many intellectuals, Parisian artists and musical groups were taking refuge, notably the National Orchestra, the violist Léon Pascal (1899-1969) who had just left the Calvet Quartet approached Maurice Crut to found the “Pascal Quartet”, alongside Jacques Dumont ( 1stviolin) and Robert Salles (cello). Subsequently renamed "Quatuor Pascal de la RTF" then "Quatuor de l'ORTF", this chamber group will deploy significant activity on the radio and on records for which it records numerous quartets, notably by Dalayrac, Haydn, Boccherini, Fauré, Ravel, Jean Rivier, Jolivet, the complete string quartets of Mozart (International Record Guild, MMS 212 to 2117) and Beethoven (MMS 2041 to 2054), as well as pages from Vivaldi, Saint-Saëns, Franck, Chausson, Caplet, Prokoviev, Robert Casadesus ( Nonettofor piano, string quartet and wind quartet, with André Sagnier, flute, Lucien Debray, oboe, Marcel Jean, clarinet, and Gérard Tantot, bassoon, Columbia disc ML 5448, Spring 1959). We also owe him the creation of contemporary works by Dandelot, Lancen, Jolivet, Sauguet, Guarnieri… During the publication (1957) of the Quartet in F major , op. 96, by Dvorak (MMS 42), the press highlighted "the dazzling and tender interpretation by the famous Pascal Quartet, everyone knows the effort in the intimate understanding of the works that they are called to play, and the concern to do nothing leave it to chance, without sacrificing anything of the life of the music" and to cite the names of the performers: Jacques Dumont and Maurice Crut, violins,Gazette de Lausanne , August 3, 1957] . On January 8, 1956 at 10:10 p.m., in Lucienne Bernadac's program "Musique pour vous", the Pascal Quartet performed Bartok's Quartet Nègre on televisionThat same year, on February 15, he was present at the Museum of Decorative Arts for the Marius Milhaud Festival and played threeString Quartets ( 4th , 5th and 14th ) , but a year later Maurice Crut left this group which ceased its activities in 1973, giving way to Louis Perlemuter.
During the 1950s-1960s, Maurice Crut performed in duo with the pianist André Terrasse, with whom he recorded Honegger's 1st Sonata for violin and piano in 1958 (Ducretet-Thomson, 300-C-054 ) . On November 18, 1955 at the Ecole Normale de Musique, at the Pierre d'Arquennes Triptych and in the presence of Florent Schmitt, they played Enesco's 2nd Sonata, the Sonata libre , op. 65, by Florent Schmitt and the Kreutzer Sonataof Beethoven

[@stuartdavidson6869]

Lovely work, beautifully played. Never heard of André Gédalge. Many thanks for introducing me to this rarity!

[@ConcertGrande]

i did not know this french composer ...french myself but i know quite well Maurice Crut through all these records and notably in the Pascal quartet ! a very nice sonate thanks for this video