In Memoriam Samson François (1924 - 1970) - "Le Poète du Piano"

Fifty years ago, on 22 October 1970, the world lost one of its most enigmatic artists: the French pianist Samson François died at the age of just 46, following a heart attack only two years earlier. He left behind a legacy of being one of the greatest performers of the music of Chopin, Debussy and Ravel, having recorded almost their complete oeuvres in his short but successful career. After his death, his popularity receded, bar for his homeland, and although he remained a household name within the United Kingdom, technological improvements in digital recording techniques of later years made it easier for contemporary musicians to see their art more widely distributed and marketed, thus ousting those artists from the producers' favours with less perfect sounding recordings.

Samson Francois

Had it not been for my dear old friend, Prof. Raimund Gilvan, I may never have heard of Samson François, when I got to listen to him playing Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G Minor op. 23 some 25 years ago (One could only get the CD's from EMI France in those days). I was taken abash by the energy and poetic quality of François' playing, but most of all by his sound: he made the piano sing like no one else I heard before (and rarely after). Soon I managed to get hold of another album, the two Concertos by Chopin, with the Orchestre National de l'Opera de Monte-Carlo under Louis Frémaux (recorded in 1965). Yet again, despite the virtuosity and flawless technique, there is no showing-off or unnecessary bravura, the poetic essence of the music comes always first - mind you: one will rarely find another interpretation where, for instance, in the coda of the first movement of the E Minor Concerto, all the trills on the left hand's second beats can be heard so clearly, therefore transforming the coda into something like a Mazurka or a slow waltz rather than the usual restless stretto played at the end of this movement (Grigory Sokolov comes closest in his 1977 recording with the Münchener Philharmoniker under Witold Rowicki). And there are those almost ethereal leggierissimo scales and runs which are present in most of the Chopin tapes, no more so than in the slow movement of the F Minor Concerto. Hard to describe in words, though, unless one listens to the music ...

Of course, Samson François had an excellent musical education, and having studied with Yvonne Lefébure, the great Alfred Cortot and later with Marguerite Long, he was winning some important piano competitions of his time which embarked him onto an international career. Soon he had become a favourite of not just the French music lovers, but as far away as Japan. He even - just as many great virtuosos before him, but not many after - composed and recorded his own Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1953), as well as some film music, in which his other great artistic love, jazz music, can be felt throughout. 

Sadly, his success and popularity started to take their toll: the mixture of late nights, smoking and drinking eventually led to that soon-to-be fatal heart attack on stage in 1968. Even in his photographs one cannot help but notice a frighteningly quick metamorphosis from a handsome young man into a rather tired looking, wistful and melancholic person who appeared well beyond someone who was merely in his forties. Yet by the time of his death, he had been able to leave us with a huge number of recordings, both live and in the studio, including many TV appearances (in black and white, of course), therefore allowing later generations, like my own, the pleasure of re-discovering one of the last truly romantic artists, aptly nicknamed the "Poet of the Piano".

The young Francois with his trademark cigarette

As mentioned earlier, until recently - at least before the advent of online streaming, Amazon or YouTube - it was rather difficult to get hold of François' records. One had to go to the French record store fnac, although you could get the occasional CD at HMV's Oxford Street outlet. Fortunately now, just on time for the 50th anniversary of his death, the French Erato label has issued the complete recordings by Samson François in a 54 CD (plus one DVD) box set, currently available for streaming via the Warner Music webpage. In a nostalgic move, many of the CD covers feature the original album jackets, making this the ultimate Christmas present for all lovers of the legendary and charismatic pianist Samson François - never to be forgotten again!