Michèle Auclair’s secret : A major recording event
I had the honor and good fortune to meet Michèle Auclair a few years before she passed away; we had a telephone conversation, and I was subsequently able to get her to make an appointment so I could have the pleasure of meeting her for a chat. The telephone conversation had left me wanting more, and I was hoping to hear more from her about her career… We met in a café on the Place Saint Sulpice.
Very modest, having long since turned the page on her career, she often answered my questions only evasively, repeating: “Tell me more about yourself, about what you do musically, I’m sure it’s more interesting !…”; or again: “At present, I try to get young violinists to play well…”.
Finally, I turn to the question of his discography:
“Are there any recordings you’ve made that haven’t been published ?”
Very evasive, she replied at first:
– oh, I don’t know anymore…you know, it’s been so long… Then she finally added: perhaps a sonata by Saint-Saëns…”.
We moved on. But in the face of this hope of an “unpublished” piece, I put the subject back on the table during a subsequent telephone conversation; she finally clarified after some reflection :
– no, in fact I think it was Roussel that we recorded with Jacqueline, for the French music recital, not Saint-Saëns. “Roussel, …the 2nd sonata.”
Shortly afterwards, I met her partner at the time, pianist Jacqueline Robin-Bonneau, at her home in Taverny: she had a test pressing of the Roussel sonata ! A miracle: there was a 3rd composer recorded by Les Discophiles Français, and it was Roussel !
A figure who has become almost mythical, the violinist’s studio recordings are rare, her discography limited; her 25 cm disc of Debussy & Ravel sonatas is one of the rarest and most expensive violin discs on the classical LP market… Why wasn’t the complete recital with the 3 composers released ? We always think of the same reasons, for this 1957-58 period: the imminent end of French Discophiles, which were going to be sold to Pathé Marconi, …performers not having had enough time to definitively validate the recording…. ?
So imagine the importance of this confirmation :
Here we are almost 20 years later, and French Record Company is finally able to publish this superb recital of French sonatas for violin and piano in its entirety, as it should have been. What’s more, I’ve discovered that there were original tapes in stereo ! This recording was indeed recorded in true stereo in February 1957, under the direction of André Charlin !
So we’re offering you this extraordinary publication: the sonatas for violin and piano by Debussy, Ravel and Roussel, in 30 cm STEREO, and this event coincides precisely with the centenary of the violinist’s birth (1924 – 2024) ! Of course, we’re still doing it with the same uncompromising high standards: purely analog direct cutting, from the original master tapes, continuing the aesthetic of the French Discophiles of the time.
What better tribute could there be to the violinist and her formidable partner ?
The DF editions with paper sleeves had the reference no. 525. – – for the 25 cm (e.g. 525.116 for the disc of Leclair concertos by M. Auclair, or 525.118 for Mozart’s Symphonie concertante with Lola Bobesco…) and 530.- – – for the 30 cm.
But in the event, only one genuine 30 cm DF disc was issued in this form: the Milhaud, in stereo, ref. no. 530.300 (Charlin recording of 1956).
On the tape boxes, the words DF 300 seem to indicate that “Les Discophiles Français” intended to initiate a new series, the “stereo – – – .300” series.
Logically, therefore, we assigned our recital the following number, 530.301.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Madame Arièle D. – S. for the loan of rare photos of Michèle Auclair, and her help with the violinist’s biography.
