Les Rarissimes de Yvonne Lefébure (Emi)

[DFO]

Just discover this exquisite French pianist, now forgotten except in France. She plays Bach, Bach-Liszt, a Mozart concerto with Furtwangler, and by LVB, son.30 and 31, and a beautiful Diabelli.
She had a smooth and silked sound, an excellent technique and a beautiful, almost ethereal touch. Highly recommended.
BTW, if you happen to find any of her French old vinyls in VG/NM
state, buy it. There are all very rare, most wanted and worth three figures at least.

[mjwal]

I have her Beethoven in a Solstice box - they may or may not be the same recordings, and include op.111 (rushed & slapdash) too. But to me it is the French music in that box that is the real find: a Fauré CD, some Ravel, Debussy. The Fauré in particular is unmatched for delicacy & intensity, only Albert Ferber came close in my experience.

[Mandryka]

She did a Mozart K466 which I have never heard -- anyone care to comment?

Also this documentary is good "Une leçon de vie"

[Dancing Divertimentian]

She did a Mozart K466 which I have never heard -- anyone care to comment?

You mean the one with Furtwängler? I used to have it, although I don't exactly recall its characteristics.

Then again I let go of all my Furtwängler Mozart due to its extreme romanticism. But a fresh appraisal might be in order before further comment.

[king ubu]

Not sure there's a more appropriate thread, but I saw this new box set dedicated to Yvonne Lefebure ... can't say I know her, will have to explore the few stray recordings around:

[asin]B01MRFX8DJ[/asin]

There's a review up already on musicweb-international:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2017/Feb/Lefebure_legende_SOCD321.htm

Link to label site:
YVONNE LEFÉBURE - UNE LÉGENDE DU PIANO

Contents listing (from musicweb review):

CD 1
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Concerto pour piano K466 (Casals)
Sonate K457
Concerto pour piano K491 (Oubradous)

CD 2
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Concerto pour piano et orchestre op. 54 (Dervaux)
Papillons op. 2
Fantaisie op. 17

CD 3
Jean Sébastien BACH (1685-1750)
Prélude et Fugue BWV 543
Choral "Ich ruf zu dir" BWV 639
Fantaisie et Fugue BWV 542
Choral "Jesu bleibet meine freude" BWV 147
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART
Concerto pour piano K466 (Furtwängler)

CD 4
Ludwig Van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Sonate No. 30 op. 109
Sonate No. 31 op. 110
Diabelli Variations op. 120

CD 5
Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937)
Concerto pour piano et orchestra (Auberson)
Le Tombeau de Couperin op. 68
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
La boîte à joujoux

CD 6
Jean Sébastien BACH
Concerto BWV 1052 (Oubradous)
Prélude et Fugue BWV 848
Partita No. 6 BWV 830

CD 7
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART
Sonate pour piano & violon K379
Fantaisie K396
Fantaisie K475
Variations "Ah ! Vous dirais-je maman" K265
Concerto pour piano K466 (Dervaux)
Joseph HAYDN (1732-1809)
Variations op. H XVII/6

CD 8
Ludwig Van BEETHOVEN
Concerto pour piano No. 4 op. 58 (Skrowaczewski)
Sonate No. 1 op. 2
Bagatelles op. 119

CD 9
Ludwig Van BEETHOVEN
Sonate No. 29 "Hammerklavier" op. 106
33 Variations Diabelli op. 120

CD 10
Ludwig Van BEETHOVEN
Sonate No. 30 op. 109
Sonate No. 31 op. 110
Sonate No. 32 op. 111
6 Bagatelles op. 126
Bagatelle no. 3 op. 33
Bagatelle "pour Elise"
Sonate No. 8 "Pathétique" (mvt. 1 only) op. 13

CD 11
Claude DEBUSSY
Préludes (livre II)
Maurice RAVEL
Valses nobles et sentimentales
Gabriel FAURÉ (1845-1924)
6ème Nocturne op. 63
13ème Nocturne op. 119
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
15 Valses et Ländler

CD 12
Claude DEBUSSY
Préludes (livre I)
Etude pour les arpèges composés
Etude pour les sonorités opposées
François COUPERIN (1668 - 1733)
Les Baricades Mistérieuses
Jean-Philippe RAMEAU (1683-1764)
Gavotte et 6 doubles
Paul DUKAS (1865-1935)
Variations, Interlude et Finale

CD 13
Maurice RAVEL
Concerto pour piano et orchestra (Ansermet)
Jeux d'eau op. 30
Valses nobles et sentimentales
Le Tombeau de Couperin op. 68
Gabriel FAURÉ
Thème et Variations op. 73
13ème Nocturne op. 119

CD 14
Franz SCHUBERT
Sonate No. 19 op. D 958
Robert SCHUMANN
Concerto pour piano et orchestre op. 54 (Sébastian)
Carl Maria Von WEBER
L'invitation à la valse op. op.65

CD 15
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Intermezzo op. 119/1
Intermezzo op. 118/6
Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
Ballade op. S 178
La Lugubre Gondole No. 2 op. S 200
Chant des fileuses op. S 273
Frédéric CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Mazurka op. 41/2
Mazurka op. 17/4
Mazurka op. 7/5
Mazurka op. 56/2
Mazurka op. 7/3
Barcarolle op. 60
Scherzo No. 2 op. 31
Ballade No. 4 op. 52
Robert SCHUMANN
Variations Posth. op. 13

CD 16
Ludwig Van BEETHOVEN
Sonate pour violon et piano No. 3 op. 12/3
Sonate pour violon et piano No. 4 op. 23
Sonate pour violon et piano No. 6 (mvt. 2) op. 30/1
Sonate pour violon et piano No. 10 op. 96

CD 17
Maurice RAVEL
Concerto pour piano et orchestra (Paray)
Robert SCHUMANN
Concerto pour piano et orchestre op. 54 (Paray)
Scènes d'enfants op. 15

CD 18
Gabriel FAURÉ
Thème et Variations op. 73
7ème Nocturne op. 74
1er Nocturne op. 33/1
2ème Impromptu op. 31
12ème Nocturne op. 107
5ème Impromptu op. 102
Paul DUKAS
Variations, Interlude et Finale
Prélude elégiaque

CD 19
Claude DEBUSSY
Images (1er Livre)
Masques
Images (2e Livre)
L'Isle joyeuse
Maurice EMMANUEL (1862-1938)
Sonatine IV
Sonatine III
Sonatine VI

CD 20
Maurice RAVEL
Valses nobles et sentimentales
Le Tombeau de Couperin op. 68
Jeux d'eau op. 30
Ma Mère l'Oye

CD 21
Franz SCHUBERT
Sonate No. 21 op. D 960
Impromptu op. D 935, 142/2
Robert SCHUMANN
Davidsbündlertänze op. 6
Variations Posth. op. 13

CD 22
Belá BARTÓK (1881-1945)
Mikrokosmos - VI. (6 Danses dans le rythme bulgare)
Henry BARRAUD (1900-1997)
Concerto pour piano (1939)
Henri MARTELLI (1895-1980)
Cinq Danses op. 47 (1941)
Maurice EMMANUEL
Sonatines op. 11 & 20
Albert ROUSSEL (1869-1937)
3 Pièces Op. 49

CD 23
Jean Sébastien BACH
Prélude et fugue BWV 543
Fantaisie chromatique et fugue BWV 903
Toccata BWV 912,
Partita no.  1 BWV 825
Prélude et fugue I, 8 du Clavier bien tempéré
Sicilienne du Concerto BWV 596
3 Chorals

CD 24
Entretien avec Bernard Deutsch (1981)
Entretien avec Laurent Asselineau suivi d'un cours d'interprétation (1978) Radioscopie avec Jacques Chancel (1976)

Participating artists:

Ernest ANSERMET
Pierre BERTIN
Pablo CASALS
Pierre DERVAUX
Jeanne GAUTIER
Fernand OUBRADOUS
Paul PARAY
Manuel ROSENTHAL
Georges SEBASTIAN
Stanislaw SKROWACZEWSKI
Sandor VEGH
Ulysse DELECLUSE
René LE ROY
Wilhelm FURTWANGLER
Jean-Marie AUBERSON
Gersende DE SABRAN

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

24 CDs? ? ? WOW, I had no idea she recorded anywhere near that much . She was one of Dinu Lipatti's teachers from what I remember.

[king ubu]

Cross-posting from the listening thread ... finally got my copy of the box and have arrived halfway into disc 4 (continuing with the Diabellis tonight, I guess):

So far enjoying it a lot ... and I guess the two minor concertos are my favourites among Mozart's piano concertos (KV 491 is top of my list, no doubt) ... the presentation looks pretty nice, with colourful sleeves reproducing record covers, and details on the backsides. There's plenty of unreleased material (which to me doesn't matter, I have had none of this before). The booklet has 60 narrowly printed pages with some photos and lots of text (en/fr), including excerpts of various interviews. Looks pretty nice to me, if not like a true high-end collector's item - but hey, at 70€ or so, the price is very much alright and the small capbox design means it won't use up LP-sized space.

There's also a second review up on musicweb-international:
http://musicweb-international.com/classrev/2017/Apr/Lefebure_legende_SOCD321.htm

Do I need more recordings of (mostly) core repertoire? Guess not ... but I'm a sucker for historical piano (and violin) recordings, can't help it!

One aspect I'm not quite clear about: I had to wait for around five weeks for the box to be delivered. On the outside of the box, it says something like: strictly limited to 300 numbered copies. However, I couldn't see a number anywhere and am - because of the wait - not sure if the box has already been reprinted for a second (not numbered) run. Doesn't matter to me either way, I'm happy with what I've heard so far!

[George]

Is it possible that this set is already OOP?

I see amazon's cheapest new price is $165.