Artist: Christian Ferras, Herbert von Karajan, Pierre Barbizet, Carl Schuricht, Michel Schwalbé, Jean-Claude Ambrosini, Shuku Iwasaki, Berliner Philharmoniker, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, George Enescu
Title: Christian Ferras Edition
Year Of Release: 2023
Label: Eloquence
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Total Time: 15:25:43

Christian Ferras – Christian Ferras Edition (2023)

Tracklist:
CD 1
01. I. Allegro con fuoco
02. II. Adagio non troppo
03. III. Allegro
04. Kreisler: Praeludium and Allegro in the Style of Pugnani
05. Sarasate: Romanza andaluza, Op. 22 No. 1
06. Massenet: Méditation de Thaïs
07. Fauré: Berceuse, Op. 16
08. Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte, M. 19
09. Ravel: Tzigane M. 76

CD 2
01. I. Prélude – Allegro molto leggiero
02. II. Siciliano – Andantino
03. III. Rondino – Allegro ma non troppo
04. Semenoff: Double Concerto for Violin and Piano

CD 3
01. I. Allegro vivo
02. II. Intermède. Fantasque et léger
03. III. Finale. Très animé
04. I. Allegro non troppo
05. II. Andante
06. III. Finale. Allegro non troppo

CD 4
01. Chausson: Poème, Op. 25
02. Ravel: Tzigane
03. Honegger: Sonata for Solo Violin, H. 143

CD 5
01. I. Adagio
02. II. Allegro
03. III. Adagio ma non tanto
04. IV. Allegro
05. I. Allegro
06. II. Affetuoso
07. III. Allegro
08. I. Allegro
09. II. Adagio ma non tanto e dolce
10. III. Alla breve

CD 6
01. I. Allegro di molto
02. II. Tema con variazioni: Tema – Var. I/VI
03. I. Allegro
04. II. Andante
05. III. Rondo (Allegretto grazioso)

CD 7
01. I. Allegro non troppo
02. II. Adagio
03. III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace – Poco più presto

CD 8
01. I. Allegro moderato
02. II. Un poco adagio
03. III. Rondo (Allegretto)
04. I. Allegro
05. II. Adagio
06. III. Rondo (Allegro)

CD 9
01. I. Allegro non troppo (Cadenza: Kreisler)
02. II. Adagio
03. III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace – Poco più presto

CD 10
01. I. Allegro moderato
02. II. Adagio di molto
03. III. Allegro, ma non tanto
04. Andante sostenuto – Allegro moderato – Allegro

CD 11
01. I. Mit leidenschaftlichem Ausdruck
02. II. Allegretto
03. III. Lebhaft
04. No. 1, Nicht schnell
05. No. 2, Einfach, innig
06. No. 3, Nicht schnell
07. I. Ziemlich langsam – Lebhaft
08. II. Sehr lebhaft
09. III. Leise, einfach
10. IV. Bewegt

CD 12
01. I. Allegretto ben moderato
02. II. Allegro – Quasi lento – Tempo I. Allegro
03. III. Recitativo – Fantasia. Ben moderato – Largamente – Molto vivace
04. IV. Allegretto poco mosso
05. I. Très modéré – Vif et passioné
06. II. Très lent
07. III. Très animé – Très modéré

CD 13
01. I. Allegro moderato
02. II. Canzonetta (Andante)
03. III. Finale (Allegro vivacissimo)
04. Andante un poco rubato

CD 14
01. I. Allegro moderato (attaca)
02. II. Adagio
03. III. Mosso
04. Constant: 24 Preludes for Orchestra

CD 15
01. I. (Allegro moderato)
02. II. Andante
03. III. Allegro assai
04. I. Allegro
05. II. Adagio
06. III. Allegro assai
07. I. Vivace
08. II. Largo ma non tanto
09. III. Allegro

CD 16
01. I. Allegro ma non troppo – Cadenza: Fritz Kreisler
02. II. Larghetto
03. III. Rondo. Allegro – Cadenza: Fritz Kreisler

CD 17
01. I. Vivace ma non troppo
02. II. Adagio
03. III. Allegro molto moderato
04. I. Allegro amabile
05. II. Andante tranquillo – Vivace – Andante – Vivace di più – Andante vivace
06. III. Allegretto grazioso. Quasi andante
07. I. Allegro
08. II. Adagio
09. III. Un poco presto e con sentimento
10. IV. Presto agitato
11. Brahms: F-A-E Sonata: III. Scherzo

CD 18
01. No. 1, Liebesfreud
02. No. 2, Liebesleid
03. No. 7, Träumerei (Arr. Catherine for Violin and Piano)
04. Schubert: Ave Maria, D. 839 “Ellens Gesang III”
05. Kreisler: Rondino on a Theme by Beethoven
06. No. 1, Andante espressivo (Arr. Kreisler for Violin and Piano)
07. Dinicu: Hora staccato (Arr. Heifetz)
08. No. 7, Poco Lento e grazioso (Arr. Kreisler for Violin and Piano)
09. Kreisler: Caprice Viennois, Op. 2
10. Méditation (Arr. Marsick)
11. Chaminade: Sérénade espagnole, Op. 150 (Arr. Kreisler)
12. Fauré: Berceuse, Op. 16
13. Song of India (Arr. Kreisler for Violin and Piano)
14. No. 1, Romanza Andaluza
15. Spanish Dance (Arr. Kreisler)
16. Le Cygne
17. Stravinsky: Chanson russe

CD 19
01. Rameau: Tambourin, RCT 9
02. Andante cantabile
03. Granados: Danzas espagnolas
04. Mendelssohn: On Wings of Song, Op. 34, No. 2, S 547/R 217
05. En bateau
06. Drdla: Souvenir
07. Air sul G
08. 3. Minuetto
09. Ravel: Piece en forme d’habanera
10. Dvořák: Songs my mother taught me
11. Beethoven: Menuetto in G
12. Albéniz: Tango
13. Schubert: Serenade
14. 3. Schön Rosmarin

Several first-ever CD transfers in this newly remastered set celebrating a sublime exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school.

Christian Ferras was just 15 when he first attracted attention in the international press for the premiere of Honegger’s Unaccompanied Sonata in 1948. He began making records for Decca the same year, including a brand-new concerto of Paganinian virtuosity by Federico Elizalde, and critics continued to be astonished by the combination of technical accomplishment with warmth of tone and a musical maturity far beyond his years.

Ferras continued to make records for Decca throughout his teenage years. They include little-known concertos by Rodrigo and Ivan Semenoff (an album produced in Paris by John Culshaw) and the first recorded testament to his long and fruitful partnership with the pianist Pierre Barbizet. Many of these recordings had been forgotten until recently; they are newly transferred here from the best-available sources.

The Ferras/Barbizet partnership brought unrivalled finesse to the Francophone sonata repertoire (Debussy, Faure, Franck and Lekeu, all represented here) but a Mozart sonata LP from 1954 is another forgotten gem. So is an album of Bach made under the supervision of Ferras’s teacher, Georges Enescu. By the early 60s, Ferras had won the admiration of Herbert von Karajan, and their DG recordings of repertoire concertos from JS Bach to Sibelius stand the test of time for a harmonious meeting of minds, dynamism and strength of mutual inspiration rare among the conductor’s many concerto partnerships.

Ferras’s career was derailed by episodes of depression and alcoholism which eventually led to his suicide in 1982, aged just 49, and the final recordings here are encore collections made in 1968 and 1971. By then he had relinquished his partnership with Barbizet, but these little-known ‘late’ albums find Ferras on undimmed and delightfully imaginative form, making a ‘wonderfully relaxing coda’ to this important anthology, as Tully Potter remarks in his booklet tribute. The booklet also includes an interview between Jean-Michel Molkhou and Julien Szulman, where they discuss the rediscovery of the rare 1971 album made by Ferras in Japan with Shuku Iwasaki, as well as the little-known 78-era recordings.