Ballade No. 1 In G Minor Op. 23 (Chopin)
Alfred Denis Cortot (Nyon, Switzerland, September 26, 1877 – Lausanne, Swit… Read Full Bio ↴Alfred Denis Cortot (Nyon, Switzerland, September 26, 1877 – Lausanne, Switzerland, June 15, 1962) was a Swiss pianist and conductor. He is renowned for his poetic and deeply melancholic interpretation of Romantic period piano works, particularly those of Chopin and Schumann.
Born in Nyon in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, Cortot studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Emile Descombes (reputedly a pupil of Chopin) (as did Maurice Ravel), and with Louis Diémer, taking a premier prix in 1896. He made his debut at the Concerts Colonne in 1897, playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3. Between 1898 and 1901 he was a choral coach, and subsequently assistant conductor, at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, and in 1902 he conducted the Paris premiere of Götterdämmerung by Wagner. He formed a concert society to perform Wagner's Parsifal, Beethoven's Missa solemnis, Brahms' German Requiem, and new works by French composers.
In 1905, Cortot formed a trio with Jacques Thibaud and Pablo Casals, which established itself as the leading piano trio of its era, and probably of any era. From 1907 to 1923 Cortot taught at the Paris Conservatoire, where his pupils included Clara Haskil, Dinu Lipatti, Vlado Perlemuter, and even Marguerite Monnot (French composer of most of the best songs of Edith Piaf and of the stage musical Irma la douce). In 1919 he founded the École Normale de Musique de Paris. His courses in musical interpretation were legendary. Extremely widely traveled as a pianist, he also appeared as guest conductor of many orchestras. He died in Lausanne.
Controversially, he supported the German occupation in France during the Second World War (he played in Nazi-sponsored concerts, for example), serving as Minister of Culture for the Vichy regime, and befriending Hitler's assistant Albert Speer. His Vichy connections, in particular, led to him being declared persona non grata after the Liberation. The motives for his wartime activities have been disputed; they may have arisen from nothing more than his lifelong championship of Teutonic musical culture. Moreover his wife, Clothilde Breal, daughter of the semanticist, Michel Breal, was of Jewish origin and Clothilde Breal's cousin, Lise Bloch, was married to Leon Blum, the first Jew to become President du Conseil or Prime Minister in France. Cortot and the Blums maintained a close friendship. At any rate, he was banned from performing publicly for a year, and his public image in France suffered greatly (though he continued to be well received as a recitalist in other countries, notably Italy and England).
As the foremost piano interpreter of Chopin and Schumann, Cortot made editions of both those composers' music, which were notable for his own meticulous commentary on technical problems and matters of interpretation. He had famous memory lapses - particularly notable from the 1940s onwards, when non-musical matters were very much on his mind - and occasionally left wrong notes on his records. This was in stark contrast to his technically flawless student, Lipatti.
Cortot was also the author of the piano exercise book: "Rational Principles of Pianoforte Technique". This book contains many finger exercises to aid in the development of various aspects of piano playing technique. It was originally written in French but has since been translated into other languages.
Technical flaws notwithstanding, Cortot was among the very greatest musicians of the century, and represented the end of an era. He is considered the last exponent of a personal, subjective style that deprecated precise technique in favor of intuition, interpretation and authentic spirit. This approach was replaced by the modern "scientific" way of playing, which places logic and precision at the forefront and equates authenticity with metronomic and literal "interpretations". Cortot's recordings and musical annotations have seldom been out of print.
Born in Nyon in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, Cortot studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Emile Descombes (reputedly a pupil of Chopin) (as did Maurice Ravel), and with Louis Diémer, taking a premier prix in 1896. He made his debut at the Concerts Colonne in 1897, playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3. Between 1898 and 1901 he was a choral coach, and subsequently assistant conductor, at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, and in 1902 he conducted the Paris premiere of Götterdämmerung by Wagner. He formed a concert society to perform Wagner's Parsifal, Beethoven's Missa solemnis, Brahms' German Requiem, and new works by French composers.
In 1905, Cortot formed a trio with Jacques Thibaud and Pablo Casals, which established itself as the leading piano trio of its era, and probably of any era. From 1907 to 1923 Cortot taught at the Paris Conservatoire, where his pupils included Clara Haskil, Dinu Lipatti, Vlado Perlemuter, and even Marguerite Monnot (French composer of most of the best songs of Edith Piaf and of the stage musical Irma la douce). In 1919 he founded the École Normale de Musique de Paris. His courses in musical interpretation were legendary. Extremely widely traveled as a pianist, he also appeared as guest conductor of many orchestras. He died in Lausanne.
Controversially, he supported the German occupation in France during the Second World War (he played in Nazi-sponsored concerts, for example), serving as Minister of Culture for the Vichy regime, and befriending Hitler's assistant Albert Speer. His Vichy connections, in particular, led to him being declared persona non grata after the Liberation. The motives for his wartime activities have been disputed; they may have arisen from nothing more than his lifelong championship of Teutonic musical culture. Moreover his wife, Clothilde Breal, daughter of the semanticist, Michel Breal, was of Jewish origin and Clothilde Breal's cousin, Lise Bloch, was married to Leon Blum, the first Jew to become President du Conseil or Prime Minister in France. Cortot and the Blums maintained a close friendship. At any rate, he was banned from performing publicly for a year, and his public image in France suffered greatly (though he continued to be well received as a recitalist in other countries, notably Italy and England).
As the foremost piano interpreter of Chopin and Schumann, Cortot made editions of both those composers' music, which were notable for his own meticulous commentary on technical problems and matters of interpretation. He had famous memory lapses - particularly notable from the 1940s onwards, when non-musical matters were very much on his mind - and occasionally left wrong notes on his records. This was in stark contrast to his technically flawless student, Lipatti.
Cortot was also the author of the piano exercise book: "Rational Principles of Pianoforte Technique". This book contains many finger exercises to aid in the development of various aspects of piano playing technique. It was originally written in French but has since been translated into other languages.
Technical flaws notwithstanding, Cortot was among the very greatest musicians of the century, and represented the end of an era. He is considered the last exponent of a personal, subjective style that deprecated precise technique in favor of intuition, interpretation and authentic spirit. This approach was replaced by the modern "scientific" way of playing, which places logic and precision at the forefront and equates authenticity with metronomic and literal "interpretations". Cortot's recordings and musical annotations have seldom been out of print.
Ballade No. 1 In G Minor Op. 23
Alfred Cortot Lyrics
Instrumental
Writer(s): Frederic Francois Chopin
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Farah Beal
"When Cortot's hands are no more, Chopin will die a second time" wrote a crtiic in Rome in the 1890's , not knowing that in the the century we would be blessed with Cortot's recordings of Chpin. As a sixteen year old I heard this performance hundreds of times on a 78 rpm disc. It was on two sides and the Ballade was interruted as I had to turn the disc over. Now I feel so blessed to have this greatest of all performance of the Ballade on You Tube, and back in my life! Thank you!
Vlad Vexler
Lovely to know this quote - I didn’t know it
Nico Van
instablaster.
Meredith Foster
This performances really speaks to me. Here is poetry, passion and story telling in abundance despite some splashes in the more heated moments. As one distinguished artist observed ''A Cortot performance found the opium within music''.
Sergio Ciomei
Daniel Baremboim said that... I remember a very beautiful documentary about the greatest pianist of the XX century,where Baremboim talked about Cortot and Rubinstein. He loved the "natural" in Rubinstein's playing,whereas he found Cortot's way of playing a bit artificial,as if the pianist was constantly in search of the "opium" element in music.
SL93
His playing has a magic that is hard to resist. This unbelievable fire and passion, then on the other hand such tenderness, just like Chopin's character must have been. His interpretation is almost heartbreaking. It is as if he were pulling the music onto his knees and embracing it (as Debussy once said of Liszt). How incredible it must have been to hear him in a concert. What poetry, and what a curious contradiction to his dry finger exercises he published! But Rachmaninoff was supposed to be the same, practicing Hanon exercises for hours and yet he was the greatest poet of the piano...
Rdmk
Eccezzionale interpretazione . Non pensavo comunque che ci fossero tanti pianisti in circolazione che trovassero il tempo - tra un concerto e l'altro- di postare i loro vacui commenti di scomunica al grande Cortot : colpevole di non essere un mechanical player. Grazie Alfred Cortot .
barracuda7018
Greatest Chopin pianist of all times ..No question ..
Soboro
I always enjoy listening to his musics. He is a legend.
David Moset
Chopin composed a masterpiece here. It''s a real pleasure to listen to this great pianists here on youtube. Every interpretation of Hofmann, Richter, Horowitz, Gulda, Argerich and Kissin is incredibly original. When Zimerman plays you feel perfection, when Rubinstein plays you see Chopin playing at candlelight for a young lady and when Cortot plays. you hear such demons coming out of chopins music, of which you would have never thought to be there