Monique de La Bruchollerie

MONIQUE de La BRUCHOLLERIE
French pianist (1915 - 1973)

Monique de La Bruchollerie studied with Isidor Philipp and graduated from the Paris Conservatoire with a first prize. She subsequently studied with Alfred Cortot in Paris, Emil von Sauer in Vienna, and Raoul von Koczalski in Berlin. She performed with Charles Münch in 1932 and her career was launched. She worked with Sergiu Celibidache, Eugen Jochum, Herbert von Karajan, Ernest Ansermet and other leading conductors.

Tragically, her concert career came to an end in 1966 as a result of an automile accident in Romania in which she suffered a fractured skull, lateral paralysis, and permanent injury to her right hand. After that, she devoted herself to teaching. Jean-Marc Savelli and Cyprien Katsaris are among her pupils.

Monique de La Bruchollerie was a fabulous pianist, She played with power, delicacy, and such musicality. In her performance of the "Emperor", not a note is lost and the stunning left hand gives many passages new meaning. Her touch in the Mozart movements is akin to a casting of pearls, the roundness of the notes just too delicious for words. Her playing of Mozart is proof positive that many play him too fast. The unhurried appraoch provides a clarity through which his ultimate genius shines brilliantly. And her Haydn opens new horizins for me in that composer's piano music.

There os also a performance by Monique de La Bruchollerie of the Brahms 2nd piano concerto that will knock your socks off. Buy perhaps most interesting of all is Monique de La Bruchollerie's Chopin, a mature, French Chopin, to be sure, but beautifully played and convincingly interpreted.

Scarlatti Keyboard Sonatas

in D minor, K 9 (L 413) "Pastorale"

in E Major, K 20 (L 375) "Capriccio"

Haydn Piano Sonata 48 in E minor, Hob XVI:34

recorded live in 1962

i Presto

ii Adagio

iii Vivace molto, innocentemente

Mozart Piano Concerto 20 in D minor, K 466

Bernhard Paumgartner conducting the Camerata Academia des Salzburger Mozarteums

i Allegro
14:12 ➢ ii Romanze
23:36 ➢ iii Allegro assai

recorded in the late 1950s

Heinrich Hollreiser conducting the Orchester Pro Musica Wien

i Allegro
14:37 ➢ ii Romanze
23:03 ➢ iii Allegro assai

Mozart Piano Concerto 23 in A major, K 488
Bernhard Paumgartner conducting the Camerata Academia of the Salzburg Mozarteum

recorded in the late 1950s

i Allegro

ii Adagio

Beethoven Piano Sonata 31 in A♭ major, Op 110

i Moderato cantabile molto espressivo
ii Allegro molto

recorded in 1959

Beethoven Piano Concerto 3 in C minor, Op 37
János Ferencsik conducting the Budapest National Philharmonic Orchestra

live recording

i Allegro con brio

ii Largo

iii Rondo - Allegro

Beethoven Piano Concerto 5 in E♭ major, Op 73 "Emperor"
Leopold Ludwig conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

i Allegro
19:28 ➢ ii Adagio, un poco mosso
28:10 ➢ iii Rondo - Allegro

recorded live in 1948

Mendelssohn "Spinning Song" Op 67~4 from Songs Without Words

recorded live in 1959

Chopin Recital

Nocturne in E major, Op 62~2
05:03 Waltz 11 in G♭ major, Op 70~1 posth
07:14 Waltz 13 in D♭ major. Op 70~3 posth
09:57 Waltz 16 in E minor
12:00 Mazurka in C♯ minor, Op 30~4
15:22 Ballade 1 in G minor, Op 23

Chopin Grande Polonaise in E♭ major, Op 22

Chopin Ballade 4 in F minor, Op 52

recorded in 1947

Chopin Piano Sonata 3 in B minor, Op 58
iv Finale -Presto non tanto. Agitato

Chopin Barcarolle in F♯ major, Op 60

Franck Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra
Jonel Perlea conducting l'Orchestre des Concerts Colonne

Brahms Waltz , Op 39~6

2 in E major

6 in C♯ major

Brahms Piano Concerto 2 in B♭ major, Op 83
Rolf Reinhardt conducting the Pro musica Orchester

i Allegro non troppo
16:58 ➢ ii Allegro appassionato
25:38 ➢ iii Andante
37:12 ➢ iv Allegretto grazioso

recorded in 1952

Saint-Saëns Toccata in F major, Op 111~6

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto 1 in B♭ minor, Op 23
i Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso
Rudolf Moralt conducting the Vienna State Philharmonia

recorded in 1952

cadenza (1963 video)

Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, Op 43
unidentified conductor and orchestra

Szymanowski Theme and Variations in B♭ minor, Op 3

The following videos of Monique de La Bruchollerie are at once interesting and shocking. They demonstrate a marvelous pianist with a curious technique, if I may be permitted the euphemism. Looking upon the extra finger motions and the resultant tension in the hands and forearms cause me psychic pain. The finger stretches she proposes to replace hours of practicing scales make me think of Schumann who crippled his hand trying to force his fingers to accomplish something for which they were not designed. Monique de La Bruchollerie must have been one of those fortunate few whose fingers, hands and arms survived with great success the kind of torture hinted at. But a frightening percentage of us lesser mortals would long since have developed no end of injury to the delicate physiology of the fingers and hands.

The videos are in French, but those of you who understand may find them worth while. I encourage everyone to watch the first one.

Monique de La Bruchollerie 1965