AIMEE-MARIE ROGER-MICLOS
French pianist (1860 - 1950)

Aimee-Marie Roger-Miclos had an extraordinary technique. Listen to the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody, what there is of it. The combination of clarity and speed takes my breath away.

I have been able to find only these six examples of her playing.  Her style of play is perfectly suited to the French salon and perhaps the virtuosity of Liszt in some of his more flamboyant works, as is amply demonstrated below by the recording of Godard's delightful Mazurka. When applied to the works of Chopin and Mendelssohn, todays ears, even mine which are so often attracted to the very personalized manner of the turn of the last century, find it difficult to accept.  Still, I would love to hear more as there is a joyfulness in her playing which, when combined with her accelerated runs and almost unrealistically perfect trills, I find hard to resist.

The folliwing were all recorded on a Pleyel piano in 1905.

Mendelssohn  Rondo Capriccioso, Op 14 (abridged)