Pierre Sancan

Pierre Sancan ( born October 24, 1916 in Mazamet; † 20 October 2008 in Paris ) was a French pianist, conductor and composer.

Life

Sancan studied in Toulouse and at the Conservatoire de Paris with Yves Nat, Jean Gallon, Henri Busser, Jean Estyle, Charles Munch and Roger Désormière. In addition to the piano, he studied composition, harmony, fugue and counterpoint. In 1943 he won the Prix de Rome with the cantata La legende d' Icare. This allowed him a scholarship at the Villa Medici in Rome from 1946 until 1947.

As a pianist Pierre Sancan lived in a transitional period. In the early 1950s the then much-vaunted and technically perfected French culture of playing the piano was shattered in two ways: On the one hand dived some Russian piano virtuoso in the West who presented with their playing style beyond traditional methods. On the other hand, the French Pianos Pleyel and ETARD were more and more from the Anglo- German pianos, notably represented by Steinway & Sons, displaced. Sancan wore with this change and worked intensively among other things with the physiology of the body work when playing the piano, the interaction of fingers, arms and back of the pianist. His departure from the fast-paced game in the tradition of Camille Saint- Saëns and Isidor Philipp, in favor of a more restrained, more expressive style, his time earned him criticism; with time, it has nevertheless through with his views.

From 1956 to 1985 he worked as professor of piano at the Conservatoire. The early 1960s, went out of his class produced the first famous piano virtuoso. Jean -Philippe Collard won the 1960 in Berlin, the second prize of the fifteen - year-olds at the International Youth Music Competition in Berlin. Jean -Bernard Pommier made ​​in 1962, at the age of 17 years, the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow sensation. Other well-known pianist who had studied at Sancan are Béroff Michel, Marc Laforet, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Jean- Efflam Bavouzet, Jean -Marc Savelli and many others. In his teaching program Sancan also cultivated and in particular the study and practice of music of the 20th century.

Although he seems to withdraw into his pianistic career behind some of his students, yet a number of piano performances highest levels on public stage are remarkable, both in France and abroad. His recordings are no longer commercially available. His recordings of the two piano concertos by Maurice Ravel, under the baton of Pierre Dervaux, and together with André Navarra rehearsed by him sonatas for cello and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven can be found in the bookseller. On Youtube you can listen to compositions by him and even see him also play the piano and listen.

Sancan composed an opera, three ballets, concertos, chamber music and songs.

In the late 1980s Sancan ill with Alzheimer 's disease and retired from public life.

Works

  • La legende d' Icare, cantata, 1943
  • Sonatine for Flute and Piano, 1946
  • Commedia dell'arte, Ballet, 1952
  • Piano Concerto, 1957
  • Violin Concerto, 1958
  • String Symphony, 1961
  • Ondine, Fille de la forêt, opera, 1962
  • Reflet, Ballet, 1963
  • Les fourmis, Ballet, 1966
  • Concertino for piano and chamber orchestra, 1966
650092
de