SAMSON FRANCOIS

Despite the very French name, Francois was in fact born in Frankfurt, and was an erratic and idiosyncratic player of the piano if ever there was one!! But one who had such magic and such brilliance about him that he was held in great affection and great admiration, perhaps by his detractors as well as his innumerable fans.

Francois was a small built man, and was not afraid of the demanding parts of the piano repertoire - he has left a wealth of recordings which include Concertos by Chopin (in fact he recorded the entire opus of Chopin), both the Liszt, Prokofiev 3 and 5, the Schumann and, perhaps his greatest fame is for his performances which he recorded of the two Ravel Concerti. He also left a marvellous performance of Gaspard de la Nuit - and his two recordings of Scarbo are particularly note worthy...perhaps there was something of an irony in this small figure playing this particular piece with quite the brittle dexterity that he had. Interestingly there is a book recounting his life by Jerome Spycket, which is entitled 'Scarbo'.

Francois was something of an 'enfant terrible'. He was a student of Alfred Cortot, Yvonne Lefebure and Marguerite Long, who apparently said that he was the only student she ever had that she actually had to hit!!

It is something of a tragedy that he did die relatively young - there is a certain amount of question as to how his performances would have changed with the passing of time. How much his concerts suffered through this over keen love of the grape(!) is not without a certain amount of evidence, but ultimately as an artist he was magical.

On one occasion he had been engaged at the Becanson Festival, and attained a very positive reception after his performances of the Beethoven Appassionata Sonata, the Schumann Symphonic Studies and some of the more demanding works of Liszt. The next year he was welcomed back with some considerable enthusiasm. Like many artists he apparently chose not to eat before a performance, although the odd glass of wine was a different matter entirely. He was, alas, a little worse for the benefit of drink, and after an apparently almost unrecognizable set of Chopin pieces he left the stage and asked that the audience be sent home. Somehow they didn't get sent home, and forty five minutes later he returned to the platform and gave a performance of Liszt and Prokofiev in the second half which was sensational!

He had a certain stamina which enabled him to programme concerts which most artists would never even consider - on his 30th birthday he played the Liszt and Chopin 1st Concertos and also the Prokofiev 3rd in one evening. In June of 1959 he performed the Liszt 1st, Bartok 3rd, Chopin 2nd and Ravel Concerto for the Left Hand in one concert.

He recorded the entire opus of Ravel, and was in the process of recording the complete Debussy, and it was during this time that he died without completing the recording of the Studies.

A DVD has been issued by BBC Legends of his performances of the Ravel Concerto Pour la Main Gauche, and the Grieg Concerto, both of which make very interesting viewing.