L'Album des Six - Music by French Avant-Garde Composers of Early 20th Century Corinna Simon

• Georges Auric (1899 - 1983):
• 1 Prélude in A Major 01:21
• Louis Durey (1888 - 1979):
• 2 Romance sans paroles, Op. 21 02:43
• Arthur Honegger (1892 - 1955):
• 3 Sarabande, H.26 01:41
• Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974):
• 4 Mazurka 00:53
• Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963):
• 5 Valse, FP 17 01:49
• Germaine Tailleferre (1892 - 1983):
• 6 Pastorale 01:52
• Arthur Honegger: Sept piéces brèves, H.25:
• 7 Sept piéces brèves, H.25: I. Souplement 00:36
• 8 Sept piéces brèves, H.25: II. Vif 00:24
• 9 Sept piéces brèves, H.25: III. Très lent 02:03
• 10 Sept piéces brèves, H.25: IV. Légérement 00:22
• 11 Sept piéces brèves, H.25: V. Lent 01:22
• 12 Sept piéces brèves, H.25: Vi. Rythmique 00:50
• 13 Sept piéces brèves, H.25: VII. Violent 01:20
• Darius Milhaud: Le printemps, Book I, Op. 25:
• 14 Le printemps, Book I, Op. 25: I. Modéré 03:04
• 15 Le printemps, Book I, Op. 25: II. Souple 01:38
• 16 Le printemps, Book I, Op. 25: III. Doucement 01:38
• Francis Poulenc:
• 17 Improvisation in A Minor à Georges Auric, FP 63, No. 5 01:44
• 18 Mélancolie, FP 105 06:24
• 19 Novelette No. 3 in E Minor, FP 173, No. 3 02:23
• Georges Auric: Trois Pastorales à Darius Milhaud:
• 20 Trois Pastorales à Darius Milhaud: I. Vif et rude 01:51
• 21 Trois Pastorales à Darius Milhaud: II. Modérément animé et dans un sentiment très calme 02:53
• 22 Trois Pastorales à Darius Milhaud: III. Très vif et très net 01:50
• Germaine Tailleferre:
• 23 Impromptu for Piano 02:33
• Partita for Piano:
• 24 Partita for Piano: I. Perpetuum mobile 02:40
• 25 Partita for Piano: II. Notturno 02:41
• 26 Partita for Piano: III. Allegramente 03:23
• 27 Rêverie 03:47
• 28 Romance for Piano 03:46
• Total Runtime 59:31

Info for L'Album des Six - Music by French Avant-Garde Composers of Early 20th Century

In the 1920s, with Claude Debussy dead and Maurice Ravel in the ascendant, they became the darlings of the Parisian music scene. They appeared like a group of rebels determined to steer French music onto new paths. Their name might have belonged to a pop band: Les Six.

“We’ve had our fill of Debussy, Florent Schmitt and Ravel”, wrote Francis Poulenc. “What I have in mind is clear, healthy, robust music, music that is as obviously French as Stravinsky’s Petrushka is Russian.” The genesis of these hotheads dates back to the year 1917 and the ballet Parade, with music by Eric Satie, a scenario by Jean Cocteau, stage décor by Picasso and a production organised by the great impresario Diaghilev. It caused a fully-fledged scandal: several young musicians called “nouveaux jeunes” – Arthur Honegger, Georges Auric, Louis Durey and Germaine Tailleferre – took up the cudgels for Satie. A year later they were joined by Francis Poulenc and Darius Milhaud. They all espoused a new aesthetic approach, as Milhaud recalled: “Following a concert in the Salle Huyghens [with works by Durey and Milhaud], the critic Henri Collet wrote an article with the title “Les cinq Russes et les six Français” [published on 16 January 1920]. He chose six names quite at random […] only because we knew each other well, were good friends and often appeared on the same programmes. […] But it was useless to protest. Collet’s article met with such worldwide interest that it gave birth to the group “Les Six”; and I was one of its members, whether I wanted to be or not.” ...

Corinna Simon, piano

Corinna Simon
was born in Berlin. At the age of five she had her first piano lessons. At the age of twelve she was accepted at the Julius Stern Institute, the renowned conservatory in Berlin.

From 1978 she studied piano under Professor Ingeborg Wunder at the Hochschule der Künste, Berlin and after that under Professor Ludwig Hoffmann at the Musikhochschule München. During this time she took part in master classes given by György Sebok, Maria Curcio, Halina Czerny-Stefanska, Malcolm Frager and Karlheinz Kämmerling.

In 1984 she had her debut as a soloist in the Berlin Philharmonie. Since then she has had a very succesful career as a pianist in solo works and chamber music. Various engagements have lead her to the major music metropoles of Europe, like Vienna, Paris, Stockholm, Oslo, Brussels, and to the 'Lucerne Festival'. She has also performed in the USA and Asia, among them in Moskau, Washington, New York and San Francisco, Jakarta and Brunei.

Moreover, she has had the privilege of performing at officiel ceremonies to honour the following personalities - the former president of the Federal Republic of Germany Roman Herzog, the former UN-representative Mohammed el-Baradei, His Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, the former foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Prof. Dr. Dennis Meadows, the co-founder of 'Club of Rome', among others.

She has worked with well-known conductors like Jakov Kreizberg, Walter Weller, Christóbal Halffter, Marc Piollet, Lior Shambadal and Lukas Karytinos.

As a chamber musician Ms. Simon has given concerts with several famous personalities, for example the cellist Alban Gerhardt, the violinist Rainer Kimstedt and the singer Peter Maus.

She has been extremely successful performing and recording piano rarities in recent years. In connection with the twentieths anniversary of the reunification of Germany in 2010, she gave numerous concerts featuring solo works by contemporary composers like Hans Werner Henze, Bernd Alois Zimmermann and Friedrich Goldmann in several European countries and in the USA.

2011 saw the release of her CD of piano works by the Russian composer Reinhold Moritzewich Glière, which received outstanding reviews from the international press.

For Deutschlandradio Kultur in 2012, she recorded piano works by Jean Francaix, some of which had never been recorded before.

Corinna Simon has been teaching an advanced class of talented young pianists in Berlin for over 20 years.

Booklet for L'Album des Six - Music by French Avant-Garde Composers of Early 20th Century