Johann Sebastian BACH: Toccata in D Major, BWV 912 – Jean-Philippe RAMEAU: Suite in A Minor, RCT 5: VII. Gavotte et six doubles – Francis POULENC: Pastourelle, FP 45 – 3 Pièces, FP 48: III. Toccata – Frédéric CHOPIN: Mazurka in A Minor, Op. Posth. B. 140 “À Émile Gaillard” – Mazurkas, Op. 63: No. 3 in C-Sharp Minor – Mazurkas, Op. 67: No. 4 in A Minor – Mazurkas, Op. 41: No. 1 in C-Sharp Minor – Prelude No. 26 in A-Flat Major, Op. Posth. – Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23 – Tarantelle in A-Flat Major, Op. 43

Anne-Marie Goldenhorn, Piano

Anne-Marie GOLDENHORN, pianist

Born of a Russian-Spanish father and a Swiss mother, Anne-Marie Goldenhorn showed an astonishing talent for music, especially the piano, from an early age.

A virtuoso graduate of the Lausanne Conservatoire with great distinction, and winner of the Geneva International Music Performance Competition in 1951 and the Barcelona Competition the following year, she performed in Paris, Milan, Belgium, Germany and North America.

Her delicate health intermittently prevented her from pursuing a brilliant career as a soloist and outstanding teacher, where she was much appreciated by her pupils.

Jean Perrin wrote in the Gazette de Lausanne: “There are subtle correspondences between Anne-Marie Goldenhorn and the keyboard, and an almost familiar contact, so natural and instinctive does it seem? There is a perfect match between the performer’s will and her means of expression”.

THE WORKS:

JEAN-SEBASTIEN BACH:

Toccata and fugue in D major (BWV 913)

Usually performed on the harpsichord for which it was composed, this toccata – part of the series of seven similar pieces Bach dedicated to this instrument – is a kind of beneficent miracle beyond expression.

JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU:

Gavotte variée: (or Gavotte with 6 doubles) from the suite in A major.

Transcribed from the harpsichord, this work, full of charm and humor, is very much in the image of a composer rightly considered one of the most representative of French genius.

FRANCIS POULENC:

Pastourelle and toccata: from “Pieces pour piano”.

It was in 1928, at the end of the Groupe des Six adventure, that Poulenc composed these two rarely-recorded pages for piano, which confirm, beneath a certain casualness, the astonishing mastery of the author of the “concert champêtre”.

FREDERIC CHOPIN:

Four mazurkas (A minor – C sharp minor – A minor – C sharp minor)

The mazurka, a folk dance from northern Poland, seems to have been a particular inspiration for Chopin, as there are 51 of them (by far the most of any of his works).

The four on this disc are among the composer’s most romantic.

Posthumous Prelude: in A b major

This prelude – found in 1918, many years after Chopin’s death – is a brief technical feat for the performer!

Ballade No. 1: in G minor, Op. 23

Schumann wrote of this ballade: “It is one of the most beautiful pieces for the piano.

And how right this judgment is, coming from such a master!

Tarantella: in A flat major, Op. 43

This southern Italian dance may come as a surprise to a composer from Eastern Europe. But genius knows no borders, and the mad rhythm of this tarantella carries us off to sunny Sicily.