Samson François

Samson Pascal François ( born May 18, 1924 in Frankfurt am Main, † October 22, 1970 in Paris) was a French pianist and composer.

Life

François had his first piano lessons in Italy by Pietro Mascagni, under whose direction he six year old was playing a piano concerto by Mozart. He then studied in Belgrade with Cyril Licar, who introduced him to the work of Béla Bartók, and from 1932 to 1935 at the Conservatory of Nice. There, Alfred Cortot was aware of him, who encouraged him to come to Paris at the École Normale de Musique, where François studied with Yvonne Lefébure and Cortot himself. He also had lessons in harmony with Nadia Boulanger

In 1938 he moved to the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied with Marguerite Long. In 1940 he completed his formal training from the first prize in piano. In 1943 he won the first Long - Thibaud Competition. Since 1945, François has toured as a concert pianist throughout Europe, in 1947 he made his debut in the U.S., and in 1964 he also appeared in China. In 1950, he played under the direction of Leonard Bernstein, the world premiere of Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 5.

The focus of François ' repertoire was the romantic piano repertoire with works by Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, Frédéric Chopin, Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. He also championed contemporary composers such as Bartók, Prokofiev and Hindemith. The world premiere of his own piano concerto he played in 1950 at the Festival of Aix -en- Provence. He also composed, inter alia, some film scores and a piece for the jazz singer Peggy Lee.

François was life, like Glenn Gould, as a musical enfant terrible. In the 1950s, complained about music critics, his piano playing is' impetuous and confused as his hair. " 2012 were honored in the Hall of Fame by The German Record Critics' his Debussy recordings. In contrast to the emerging trend of note faithful reproduction work he stood in the tradition of piano virtuosos of the 19th century, as it was still represented by his teacher Cortot. Friends of Music he shocked with the news Brahms ' piano works caused him physical discomfort and Beethoven's sonatas bored him.

François ' eccentric lifestyle, his passion for the nightlife and the excessive use of alcohol and drugs during a performance in 1968 led to a heart attack. Two years later he died at the age of 46 years. Jérôme Spycket published in 1985 under the title Scarbo his biography, another biography from 2002 is from his son Maximilien François.

• Classic pianist
• French composer
• Born in 1924
• Died in 1970
• Man