Christian Ferras Edition (Decca & Deutsche Grammophon Recordings)

CD 1

ELIZALDE Violin Concerto /Gaston Poulet

Kreisler ∙ Massenet · Fauré ∙ Ravel /Ernest Lush ∙ Pierre Barbizet

CD 2

RODRIGO Concierto de estío /George Enescu

SEMENOFF Double Concerto /Pierre Barbizet ∙ Ivan Semenoff

CD 3

DEBUSSY Violin Sonata & FAURÉ Violin Sonata No. 2 /Pierre Barbizet

CD 4

CHAUSSON Poème, RAVEL Tzigane & HONEGGER Sonata for solo violin /Georges Sébastian

CD 5

J.S. BACH Violin Sonata No. 3, Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 & Concerto for Flute, Violin and Harpsichord /Céliny Chailley-Richez ∙ Jean-Pierre Rampal ∙ George Enescu

*FIRST CD RELEASE ON DG, REMASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL TAPES

CD 6

MOZART Violin Sonatas K. 305 & 376 /Pierre Barbizet

CD 7

BRAHMS Violin Concerto /Carl Schuricht

CD 8

ECK (attr. Mozart) Violin Concerto in E flat major & MOZART Violin Concerto No. 3 /Karl Münchinger

CD 9

BRAHMS Violin Concerto /Herbert von Karajan

CD 10

SIBELIUS Violin Concerto; Finlandia /Herbert von Karajan

CD 11

SCHUMANN Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2, 3 Romances /Pierre Barbizet

CD 12

FRANCK Violin Sonata in A major & LEKEU Violin Sonata in G major /Pierre Barbizet

CD 13

TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto & Capriccio italien /Herbert von Karajan

CD 14

NIGG Violin Concerto No. 1 & CONSTANT 24 Préludes for Orchestra* /Charles Bruck

*FIRST CD RELEASE ON DG

CD 15

J.S. BACH Violin Concertos /Michel Schwalbé ∙ Herbert von Karajan

CD 16

BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto /Herbert von Karajan

CD 17

BRAHMS Violin Sonatas Nos. 1–3, Scherzo from F-A-E Sonata /Pierre Barbizet

CD 18

RENDEZ-VOUS MUSICAL AVEC CHRISTIAN FERRAS

Kreisler · Schumann · Schubert · Mendelssohn · Dinicu · Dvořák · Massenet · Chaminade · Fauré · Rimsky-Korsakov · Sarasate · Falla · Saint-Saëns · Stravinsky /Jean-Claude Ambrosini

CD 19

AIR SUL G – VIOLIN FAVOURITES

Rameau · Tchaikovsky · Granados · Mendelssohn · Debussy · Drdla · J.S. Bach · Boccherini · Ravel · Dvořák · Beethoven · Albéniz · Schubert · Kreisler /Shuku Iwasaki

This edition brings together the Decca and Deutsche Grammophon recordings of Christian Ferras, supplemented by those he made for these labels’ French and Japanese divisions. It includes the French violinist’s significant collaborations with Herbert von Karajan and Pierre Barbizet and presents what Gramophone magazine called as ‘some of the loveliest violin records of the past 50 years’.

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.

Christian Ferras Label Deutsche Grammophon/Eloquence Catalogue No. Barcode Format 19-CD About “The ultimate in refined lyricism with jewel-like brilliance” Stereo Review

This edition brings together the Decca and Deutsche Grammophon recordings of Christian Ferras, supplemented by those he made for these labels’ French and Japanese divisions. It includes the French violinist’s significant collaborations with Herbert von Karajan and Pierre Barbizet and presents what Gramophone magazine called as ‘some of the loveliest violin records of the past 50 years’.

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.

Released 17 February 2023. TRACK LISTING / ARTISTS

CD 1 ELIZALDE Violin Concerto Gaston Poulet Kreisler ∙ Massenet · Fauré ∙ Ravel Ernest Lush ∙ Pierre Barbizet

CD 2 RODRIGO Concierto de estío George Enescu SEMENOFF Double Concerto Pierre Barbizet ∙ Ivan Semenoff

CD 3 DEBUSSY Violin Sonata FAURÉ Violin Sonata No. 2 Pierre Barbizet

CD 4 CHAUSSON Poème RAVEL Tzigane HONEGGER Sonata for solo violin Georges Sébastian

CD 5 J.S. BACH Violin Sonata No. 3 Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 Concerto for Flute, Violin and Harpsichord Céliny Chailley-Richez ∙ Jean-Pierre Rampal ∙ George Enescu *FIRST CD RELEASE ON DG, REMASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL TAPES

CD 6 MOZART Violin Sonatas K. 305 & 376 Pierre Barbizet

CD 7 BRAHMS Violin Concerto Carl Schuricht

CD 8 ECK (attr. Mozart) Violin Concerto in E flat major MOZART Violin Concerto No. 3 Karl Münchinger

CD 9 BRAHMS Violin Concerto Herbert von Karajan

CD 10 SIBELIUS Violin Concerto; Finlandia Herbert von Karajan

CD 11 SCHUMANN Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 3 Romances Pierre Barbizet

CD 12 FRANCK Violin Sonata in A major LEKEU Violin Sonata in G major Pierre Barbizet

CD 13 TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto Capriccio italien Herbert von Karajan

CD 14 NIGG Violin Concerto No. 1 CONSTANT 24 Préludes for Orchestra Charles Bruck FIRST CD RELEASE ON DG

CD 15 J.S. BACH Violin Concertos Michel Schwalbé ∙ Herbert von Karajan

CD 16 BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto Herbert von Karajan

CD 17 BRAHMS Violin Sonatas Nos. 1–3 Scherzo from F-A-E Sonata Pierre Barbizet

CD 18 RENDEZ-VOUS MUSICAL AVEC CHRISTIAN FERRAS Kreisler · Schumann · Schubert · Mendelssohn · Dinicu · Dvořák · Massenet · Chaminade · Fauré · Rimsky-Korsakov · Sarasate · Falla · Saint-Saëns · Stravinsky Jean-Claude Ambrosini

CD 19 AIR SUL G – VIOLIN FAVOURITES Rameau · Tchaikovsky · Granados · Mendelssohn · Debussy · Drdla · J.S. Bach · Boccherini · Ravel · Dvořák · Beethoven · Albéniz · Schubert · Kreisler Shuku Iwasaki

Reviews

“A young man with an astonishing technique and a growing reputation. His tone … is on the small side still, but it is sweet and warm, and he plays dead in tune all the time.” Gramophone, November 1953 (Chausson/Honegger/Ravel)

“M. Ferras is an excellent violinist and does very well by the two standard-repertoire pieces on this record. He does equally well by the Honegger, which may very well be the best sonata for unaccompanied violin composed since the death of Bach.” High Fidelity, January 1954 (Chausson/Honegger/Ravel)

“Mr. Ferras is extraordinary in the size and quality of his tone and his ability to keep a suave line pure … The Ferras-Schuricht performance is vast.” High Fidelity, December 1954 (Brahms Concerto)

“Christian Ferras plays the solo to the manner born.” The Record Guide, 1955 (Ravel Tzigane)

“Elizalde’s Violin Concerto is a serious composition … full of character in a Franco-Spanish style … The solo part, which bristles with difficulties, is played with ease and assurance by a very young virtuoso.” The Record Guide, 1955 (Elizalde)

“The Concierto de estío is quite an agreeable work … Christian Ferras handles the solo masterfully.” The Record Guide, 1955 (Rodrigo)

“Recommended as much by the combined geniuses of these two artists of great future as by the delicacy and richness of the recording. If we add the deliciously fresh and sensitive interpretation of Debussy’s Sonata, we may consider this an indispensable item for any good record collection.” Revue des deux mondes, August 1955 (Fauré/Debussy)

“The combination of Ferras’s Kreisler-ish tone and richly lyrical interpretation with Karajan’s beautifully poised, muscular conducting is an unqualified success.” High Fidelity, January 1965 (Brahms Concerto)

“Ferras’s style is perfectly suited to the Faure [Second Sonata], and I can’t recall hearing its elegant post-Romanticism more beautifully and movingly projected than it is here.” Stereo Review, November 1966

“An altogether exceptional reading. I find it hard to resist its lofty eloquence and spacious design.” High Fidelity, November 1967 (Beethoven Concerto)

“An interpretation of the highest class: dazzling, prestigious.” Revue des deux mondes, December 1967 (Beethoven Concerto)

“This artist’s control… is just short of amazing, his pinpoint articulation a source of sustained admiration … One of those truly fine performances in which artistic impulse and skilled craftsmanship fuse as one.” High Fidelity, December 1967 (Tchaikovsky Concerto)

“The ultimate in refined lyricism with jewel-like brilliance … the Ferras-Karajan collaboration comes out absolutely tops.” Stereo Review, February 1968 (Sibelius Concerto)

“Some of the loveliest violin records of the past 50 years … all characterised by a high degree of expressive refinement.” Gramophone, January 2013 (DG recordings)

“I was surprised at Ferras’s nifty account of Tchaikovsky’s Andante cantabile, though tone-colouring is typically sensitive … Schon Rosmarin [is] dispatched crisply and with a light bow.” Gramophone, October 2016 (‘Air Sul G – Violin Favourites’)