Youra Guller

[ccar]

                                                       
                                                                 


                                                "... the hope I have of being able to listen to her again in one of the last Beethoven sonatas,
                                                     of which she remains, for me, the unique interpreter in our time."          Romain Rolland



Youra Guller was born in 1895 in Marseille. Began studying piano at 4 and, like her life-long friend Clara Haskil, continued her training at the Conservatoire de Paris. Studied with Isador Philip, getting her Premier Prix at 12! Her talent was immediately recognized and she became quite a famous name, giving numerous concerts and recitals all over Europe between the two wars, with partners like Enesco, Szigeti and Francescatti. Her interests were wide – she had also studied Ballet and Flamenco and at twenty she began taking violin lessons, with Ginette Neveu. Married with the Russian-French publisher Jacques Schiffrin she became friend of many composers and writers like Ravel, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Milhaud, Andre Gide or Jean Cocteau.

Of Russian-Romanian-Jewish origin, Youra Guller had to remain hidden by friends in the Nazi occupied France. After the war she was almost forgotten for the next 20 years, dealing with disease and depression. Her first recording only came out in 1956 – a selection of Chopin Nocturnes and Mazurkas for the small French label Ducretet-Thomson. A second was to follow for Erato in 1973, with Beethoven Op. 110 and 111. And her last, in 1975, was a Nimbus LP with a collection of small pieces – Scarlatti, Couperin, Bach-Liszt, Albeniz, Granados, Balbastre, Rameau, Daquin and Chopin.     

In her later years she gave a number of recitals at the Wigmore Hall and had her New York debut at Carnegie Hall in 1971, at 76! She was always ignored by the major record companies and concert managers. But her great artistry was still recognized by a few others, like Menuhin, Guiomar Novaes, Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu or Nelson Freire.

The 1956 Chopin recording is a small treasure. Using very subtle colors and exquisite phrasing, Youra Guller gives us the most intimate readings, with a rare mixture of transparency, musical insight and serene detachment. It is a great contrast with her Beethoven sonatas, full of energy, rich tone and very strong rhythmic sense, a dark and profound reading but almost unexpected, improvisational. And in the Nimbus recital, with a variety of miniature pieces she recorded at 80, we are amazed by her genius of building for each of these little gems a very lively and individual character, like a great actress who always reveals her talent even in the smallest roles.

We may probably expect a few other Youra Guller recordings to emerge, from the BBC and the Wigmore Hall recitals and from the Radio Suisse Romande broadcasts (including a 1959 Liszt Sonata, already posted in Utube). Some were already recently issued in CD by Tahra and Doron - Chopin (Concerto No.2, Barcarolle, Mazurkas and Nocturnes), Schumann (Etudes Symphoniques), Albeniz (Triana), the Mozart E flat major Concerto (No.22) and the Beethoven G major, now in two different versions – 1958 with Ansermet and 1964 with Victor Desarzens. For me, this 1964 performance of the No.4 (Doron DRC4014), with very good sound, is one of the most beautiful readings I can remember.

[Verena]

It is tragic that there are only few recordings by this great artist. I also treasure her late Beethoven sonatas and Chopin. The Beethoven Concerto on Doron is really beautiful. There is yet another version of that concerto with (if I remember correctly) Ingelbrecht, which I found very moving.

[George]

I'd love to hear those Nocturnes, but I imagine it's long OOP? 

[ccar]

I'd love to hear those Nocturnes, but I imagine it's long OOP? 

George, AFAIK there were at least three CD editions of the 1956 Ducretet-Thomson LP over the years  - Dante, Green Door, Doron. The last one, from Doron, is still easily available in Amazon UK -  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Youra-Guller-Legendary-Artist/dp/B00242GSYO

[asin]B00242GSYO[/asin]

[George]

George, AFAIK there were at least three CD editions of the 1956 Ducretet-Thomson LP over the years  - Dante, Green Door, Doron. The last one, from Doron, is still easily available in Amazon UK -  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Youra-Guller-Legendary-Artist/dp/B00242GSYO

[asin]B00242GSYO[/asin]

The link says out of stock (which at amazon is usually indefinite.)

[ccar]

The link says out of stock (which at amazon is usually indefinite.)

The US was quickly out of stock but you still may get it (more expensive) in the UK Amazon MarketPlace - the written link in the post - or from Amazon Germany with a better price http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001TKPZ8C/ref=dm_dp_cdp?ie=UTF8&s=music. But probably it may also vanish soon.

[George]

The US was quickly out of stock but you still may get it (more expensive) in the UK Amazon MarketPlace - the written link in the post - or from Amazon Germany with a better price http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001TKPZ8C/ref=dm_dp_cdp?ie=UTF8&s=music. But probably it may also vanish soon.

Thanks, luckily I was able to track down an affordable copy.

I also pulled out my Beethoven CD of her playing those two late sonatas and plan to spin it soon.