[SACD-R][OF] Jean-François Heisser - Weber - Piano Sonatas - 2008 (Classical)

Despite his very short career, the composer of Freischutz, a work haunted by the supernatural and the fantastic, opening the way to German opera leading to Wagner, also left a non-operatic oeuvre just as festive, neglected but hardly negligible. A virtuoso pianist, he wrote brilliant pieces for himself, requiring assurance, bravura and a certain arrogance. Before Chopin and Liszt, he demonstrated that virtuosity, far from stifling inspiration, can make the discourse almost familiar to the listener, enjoined to dreams and tragedy. Dubbed a prince of music by Stravinsky, an aristocrat of an art that is a source of youth and freshness, an invitation to the dance or to a feria tinged with humour but apparently devoid of afterthoughts.
Artist Biography by James Manheim
With a repertory extending from Beethoven to contemporary music, pianist Jean-François Heisser has distinguished himself as a concerto soloist, recitalist, conductor, and chamber player. He is also an important educator.
Heisser was born in Saint-Étienne, France, near Lyon, on December 7, 1950. He took lessons first with local teacher Paul Simonnar and then moved to the French capital to attend the Conservatoire de Paris, studying with Vlado Perlemuter. In 1984, he joined the Conservatoire faculty, and his students have included prominent names among the next generation of French pianists, including Bertrand Chamayou, Vanessa Wagner, and Lucas Debargue. He has also taught at the Académie Maurice Ravel of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Heisser's career has been varied and consistently successful: his concerto credits include appearances with the Moscow Philharmonic, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the Sinfonieorchester des bayerischen Rundfunks as well as ensembles around France. Heisser sometimes conducts from the keyboard, and after successful appearances, he became the artistic director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Nouvelle-Aquitaine. As a chamber player, he has appeared with the Lindsay, Ysaÿe, and Prazak quartets, as well as with solo players, including violinists Sándor Végh and Gérard Poulet. Heisser has also performed two-piano music with Marie-Josèphe Jude. His large repertory runs from Beethoven, whose complete piano concertos he has performed under conductor Louis Langrée, to Stockhausen and the forward edge of modern music.
Liszt: Harold in Italy S472; Schumann: Märchenbilder Op113
Heisser has a large catalog of recordings, having made his debut in 1991 with a recording on the Harmonia Mundi label of Liszt's Harold in Italy and Schumann's Märchenbilder. In 2019, for Harmonia Mundi, he and Jude recorded his two-piano transcription of the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique on the 1928 Pleyel Vis-à-Vis Piano, a kind of two-in-one instrument. He has often recorded for Erato, Apex, and Mirare, where he was heard in 2021 on a new recording of Stockhausen's Mantra.
Review:
Review by John Miller - May 24, 2008
The real co-star on this recording is the Erard piano of 1874, a photograph of which is revealed when you remove the disc from its case. Although iron-framed and several piano generations later than the wooden-framed instruments of Weber's time in the early decades of the C19th, this Erard has the French lightness and clarity of tone which was much in demand in Europe as the Romantic movement proceeded. The bass is strong but well-articulated, supporting rapid passage-work without blurring, as Jean-François Heisser demonstrates in a stern military variation in the slow movement of Op. 49. The treble is simply beautiful, sweet and clear, putting many a modern concert grand to shame.
Heisser appears to have quite an affinity with Weber's music, frequently playing it in recitals and chamber concerts and thus helping to restore Weber's fall from contemporary fashion. His enjoyment shows in every moment of his playing, which is in synergy with the light action and rich set of tone colours possessed by the piano. I much enjoyed his sense of freedom and naturalness in projecting the myriad decorative passages in the music, and his vocal sense in conveying the Bellinian bel canto melodies which occur frequently in the sonatas. After all, Chopin himself used to teach the A flat sonata to his pupils, as it has an almost constant virtuosity and exploits the full range of the keyboard.
Thanks to Berlioz and his orchestration, the piano Rondo "Invitation to the Dance" has remained in popular taste, and it is a delight to hear it in its original form. Heisser begins its opening gambit very diffidently, all the better to spring out upon us with the sparkling waltz itself, whirling away elegantly with the confidence of a golden age.
The fine Praga recording is completely and appropriately at the service of the music, conveying a realistic recital ambience which allows all the glow, glitter and growl of this grand old piano to register transparently. There is a very helpful sleeve note from Pierre Barbier making some interesting points about Weber's career, and a beautiful and appropriate painting by arch-Romantic Caspar David Friedrich reproduced on the sleeve cover. Recommended.