EDOUARD RISLER (1873-1929)
French pianist

Edouard Risler was one of the great pianists of France during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  His repertoire ranged from Bach and the French baroque composers, through the works of Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt, to his own transcriptions of the tone poems of Richard Strauss.

Along with Cortot, he was a student of Diemer at the Paris Conservatory, beingawarded the first prize in 1889.  Cortot won it in 1896 and had this to say about Risler's playing:  "I immediately felt myself engulfed by the music; it was not just a matter of what he was playing, but also his charm, his faculty to reveal, to communicate the incommunicable. His unique way of making music overwhelmed me, it entered into me, into my very flesh. Risler presented to me a magical world which previously I had only known as an onlooker. He opened my soul to the appreciation of a music that was born of spontaneous inspiration. His feeling for orchestral colour was something that I had never associated with the piano. From that moment I understood how the vocation of the interpreter could transcend the metier of the pianist, I knew... I could see... I believed, and I was clear in my vision."  He also studies with Eugen d'Albert, a pupil of Liszt.

Edouard Risler concertized extensively and was know for major recital cycles including the complete piano sonatas of Beethoven, the complete works of Chopin, and Bach's Well Tempered Clavier.

His circle of friends included some of the most important composers of the day, Gabriel Fauré, Reynaldo Hahn, Emmanuel Chabrier, and Enrique Granados of whose works he was at times the dedicatee and gave the premieres.

The recordings you will hear below were made in 1917, and the sound is not terribly good.  But you will hear a wonderful pianist, one whose interpretive style cannot easily be confused with that of others of his era.  I would like to single out his recording of the Granados Spanish Dance, and absolute gem of a performance of this minor masterpiece.

Couperin (ed. Diemer)  "Le tic toc choc" or "Les Maillotins"