Janine Weill: 1930 Decca Recordings

A selection of recordings made by French pianist Janine Weill on the Decca label in 1930: Chopin: Valses Nos.1 in D-Flat Major & 2 in C-Sharp Minor Liszt: Liebesträume No.3 (4:38) Recorded: May 1, 1930 Granados: Danzas Españolas No.5 (8:45) Albéniz: Sous le palmier (12:05) Recorded: April 30, 1930 Debussy: Clair de lune (rec. April 30) (14:56) La soirée dans Grenade (19:12) Jardins sous la pluie (rec. June 11) (23:32) Children’s Corner Suite (rec. April 30 & June 11) (26:47) Préludes livre I: La cathédrale engloutie (rec. May 1) (40:27) La plus que lente (45:05) Born in Paris on January 13, 1897 (not February 1 as has been written in some sources), she was a pupil of Marguerite Long but not Alfred Cortot (though this has been published elsewhere) - she got her 1er Prix in 1915. She ranked amongst Ravel’s G Major Concerto’s first performers (as should be expected from a Long student, since Marguerite Long, both as a dedicatee and a teacher, was very much concerned with leaving her own stamp on the work). Weill made a number of recordings for Decca in the 1930s - this clip lacks a few but this is a significant portion and all that I could locate. The playing throughout is marvellous, with wonderful full-bodied tone, terrific timing as regards rhythm and rubato, creative and attentive voicing (note the left hand in the Chopin Waltzes, for example), and transparent textures. A rather amusing and unusual incident reported in Time magazine: ,33009,933731, Janine Weill died in Clamart on December 7, 1983 The March 13, 1934 illustration here entitled “La pianiste Janine Weill jouant du Schumann à l’Athénée“ was drawn by Albert Schmidt; it is housed at the MAH Musée d’art d’histoire, Ville de Genève, a gift from Claude and David Schmidt in 2001. Many thanks to Frederic Gaussin for providing invaluable information for this posting.