Description

CLAUDE HELFFER (PARIS, FRANCE, 18 JUNE, 1922 – PARIS, FRANCE, 27 OCTOBER, 2004)

 

 

 

 

Helffer was born in Paris, and began piano lessons at the age of five and from the age of ten until the outbreak of World War II he studied with Robert Casadesus. During the War he entered École Polytechnique and fought for the French Resistance during World War II. After the War, he studied theory and composition with René Leibowitz. He made his debut in Paris in 1948 and from 1954 appeared regularly in the concerts of the Domaine musical. Helffer gave many premières of new works and was the dedicatee of several notable works, including Erikhthon (Xenakis, 1974), Concerto (Boucourechliev, 1975), Stances (Betsy Jolas, 1978), Concerto no. 1 (Luis de Pablo, 1980), Envoi (Gilles Tremblay, 1982), and Modifications (Michael Jarrell, 1983). Conductors he collaborated with included Boulez, Bour, Gielen, Leibowitz, Maderna, Marriner, Martinon, Van Otterloo, Prêtre and Scherchen. His discography includes the complete piano music of Schoenberg (Grand Prix du Disque), Debussy and Ravel and the Sonatas of Boulez, Berg and Barraqué. Helffer taught master classes all over the world, most notably at the Salzburg Summer Academy from 1985 to 1998. Helffer married the noted ethnomusicologist, Mireille Helffer, whom he met at the Lycée Molière two years earlier, in June 1946.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

Beethoven, Claude Helffer ‎– Sonates “Pathétiques” – “Clair De Lune” – “Appassionata”

Club National Du Disque ‎– CND 20

Le Club Des Jeunesses Musicales De France

LP

France

Classical

Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 Pathétique I. Grave – Allegro di molto e con brio

Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 Pathétique II. Adagio cantabile

Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 Pathétique III. Rondo. Allegro

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2 Moonlight I. Adagio sostenuto

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2 Moonlight II. Allegretto

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2 Moonlight III. Presto agitato

Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 Appassionata I. Allegro assai

Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 Appassionata II. Andante con moto

Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 Appassionata III. Allegro ma non troppo – Presto