This video is taken from 'Une leçon de vie' ('A Lesson in Life'), a long documentary about the great French pianist and teacher Yvonne Lefébure (1898-1986).
It's great to see the great one playing. Not that I would agree with all of her Beethoven, however she plays with tremendous conviction and THAT goes a long way to making a successful interpretation.
The conviction shehas when talking about Beethoven's 3 periods shows how much thought and feeling musicians put into what they give out ! She and O'Conor say the same thing about Beethoven. His fight to accept life ! Her Ab Sonata op.101! If we had Schnabel tapes like we have tapes of Cortot speaking the world would change tomorrow . Lefebure is incredible ! DelaBoulangerie had a big career and it's funny all these French women whose records could be found in record shops while few men Casadesus and a few others had big careers. Ciccolini will be the most remembered of all !
A copy of the DVD seems to be available on Amazon.fr, but for "region 2" and in the "PAL system". So, I think that de best place to get it is Amazon.de (Germany), where three copies are available presently for the price of EUR 21,99. Regards.
Mme Lefebure faisiait aussi la technique de cortot en 6 mois; absolute interdiction de jouer des oeuvres, seulment la recherche de technique sur la base du livre de Cortot sur la technique. le control du son etait le secret de cette ecole.... mais quel musicalité aussi montre cette femme. Beethoven deviens humain et c est loin des interpretation brutales si souvent enregistrées. citons pas des noms....
"cette confiance ... c'est la vie c'est pas la mort" elle joue elle chante en jouant elle parle la musique ... Il faut que je trouve cette Leçon de vie en entier ... "il faut pétrir votre piano" ... "faire parler la note, jouez de la flûte ou du violon mais pas du piano ..."... "la 110 c'est du quatuor"
Quelle p r é s e n c e d'Esprit !! Chaque phrase est vitale par la vitalité même du long vécu...... Madame Lefébure nous dit tout le sublime qu'il y a dans l'être humain.
so hard to get many people raised in male bodies to flow from a heart that is one with the music - i see this in male musicians all the time - so many look like they are constipated and straining to get the feeling out (either that or they are too detached) - and yet when they become musicians they really need someone like Yvonne to show them what it's really all about - when the heart is open and wholly in tune then there is no more straining
+Ariel Rojas I'm french, and the translate is not totally accurate. So you can think these advices are kind of flat and useless but they aren't. She doesn't really say "You are too modern" but "You play in a modern way".
Il n'est pas muet en allemand je vous l'accorde, je me suis mal exprimé, mais les Européens en général sauf les allemands prononcent BHÉTOV, en deux syllabes , et ici en Amérique, on prononce BEETHOVEN , en trois syllabes comme ça s'écrit. Je ne sais pas combien de fois j'ai entendu les européens dire BHÉTHOV - sans accent aigu, pour vous dire comment ça sonne ! Par contre j'ai entendu Nadia Boulanger ,musicienne française le prononcer en trois syllabes. C'est au goût de chacun , ici au Canada un Benoit devient Ben, un Frédéric devient Fred, une Patricia devient Pat etc.......et ça va jusqu'à déformer complètement le nom ou prénom, ainsi Antoine devient TONNY etc..... Bonsoir
She may be brilliant, but I don't think I would have enjoyed having her as a teacher. She spends her time trying to be like Cortot-- philosophising and showing off at the keyboard.
I know what you mean but here she was being filmed after all so maybe she had to show-off a bit. Perhaps in real, one-to-one lessons with no cameras around she would behave differently.
She doesn't teach Beethoven, but concentrates on sound production which is great but nothing to do with Beethoven. Chopin or Debussy would be much more appropriate. She would drive me up the wall with her hysterics. Poverino Arturo😟
I'd suggest you first inform yourself about what playing the piano really means and find a good teacher before writing such nonsense in public like "sound production" has "nothing to do with Beethoven"...
Despite my admiration for Yvonne (for o fcourse her debussy, ravel....), I don't her way of romanticising Beethoven. Beethoven may be spiritual in a pragmatic sense in his later years, but to me Beethoven was a forever atheist or precisely humanist.
I'd rather this amateurish banging full of heart and commitment to the music, than the professional refined playing that is correct but soulless. What a waste of time to listen to such "professional", better off learning how to do brain surgery.
