Alexandre Boëly: Piano Music, Volume One
Alexandre Boëly (1785–1858) is best remembered as a member of the long French tradition of organist-composers. His piano music, by contrast, is as good as unknown, and yet it is an important link between the Baroque and Classical worlds of eighteenth-century France and the emerging Romanticism of the nineteenth. This recording, on an Érard piano from 1853, highlights both its Classical poise and its Romantic charm, revealing Boëly as a forerunner of composers like Saint-Saëns, whom he taught, as well as other piano pioneers such as Alkan, Chopin and Liszt, all of whom this prominent Parisian musician and teacher may well have known personally.
Toccata Classics TOCC0471. Release date 01/06/2018
"As an introduction to his extensive piano output, this first volume is very generous, includes more than enough to whet the listener’s appetite further, and has really extensive sleeve-notes (English only), complete with musical examples, all provided by Australian pianist Stephanie McCallum, who uses an Érard piano from 1853 for her really most impressive performances."
Philip R Buttall, Toccata Classics TOCC0471.