Ravel – Le Tombeau de Couperin – Monique Haas – 1950
A Radio recital by Monique Haas from approximately 1952 featuring Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin.
A little late to end Sunday, but a good start to Monday.
Like many French pianists who grew up in the aftermath of the First World War, Haas’s repertoire was characterised by an avoidance of Romantic composers and a significant representation of French music. Pieces by François Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau appeared regularly on her programmes, as well as those of Mozart and Haydn. Schumann was the significant exception to her neglect of romanticism, and she also included Chopin‘s etudes in her repertoire.
However, it was as a performer of twentieth-century French music that Haas is best remembered. Her recordings of Debussy include the comparatively neglected Douze Études, which won a Grand Prix du Disque, and the Préludes. She also recorded both of the Ravel concertos, the G major twice, as well as his complete solo piano music.
She was a noted interpreter of Béla Bartók, performing his Piano Concerto No. 3 only a few days after its world premiere by György Sándor. Another non-French composer whose works appealed to her was Paul Hindemith. She made a recording of his Suite for Piano and Strings, The Four Temperaments. She also recorded his Konzertmusik For Piano, Brass & Harp, with Hindemith himself conducting.
