This forgotten pianist is addicting to listen to..

“Robert Lortat is not only a very brilliant virtuoso amongst those at present in the public eye, he is an excellent musician, who loves music and makes others love it.” – Gabriel Fauré ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ Robert Lortat (1885–1938) was a French pianist who studied under Louis Diémer alongside other pupils such as Alfred Cortot. Although highly regarded in his time, he has since faded into obscurity, overshadowed by his contemporaries. Between 1928 and 1931, he left a series of acoustic recordings consisting of Chopin’s piano cycles (preludes, etudes, waltzes, also the second sonata), which reflect his extremely spontaneous and ferocious playing. His sound is thick and sentimental while his rubato, intensified by pronounced hand displacement, is often overexaggerated. Nevertheless, or perhaps precisely for those reasons, I am addicted to hearing his playing. Lortat is capable of having a strikingly big picture sense of structure, as in the second sonata, while also achieving an operatic bel canto quality to his playing, evident in the Waltz Op. 34/2 and Etude Op. 25/7. Notice how in the Prelude Op. 28/17 he tenderly sings the top melody, contrasting with his overtly loud bass which imitates a bell. ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ Program: 0:00 Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35: I. Grave - Doppio Movimento (!!!) 4:31 Waltz Op. 34 No. 2 in A minor 8:23 Prelude Op. 28 No. 17 in A-flat major 11:08 Etude Op. 25 No. 7 in C-sharp minor