Biography (read more)
Jean-Philippe Collard was born in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, in the Marne, on 27 January 1948 into a musical family, began at five, and took a first prize at the Paris Conservatoire at sixteen. Prizes followed from the Long-Thibaud competition, the Fauré and Roussel awards and the Cziffra Foundation, and an EMI contract made him one of France’s most recorded pianists.
Collard is the modern reference for French romantic piano music: his complete Fauré — nocturnes, barcarolles, impromptus — and his Saint-Saëns concerto cycle with Previn remain the versions others are measured against, alongside a Rachmaninoff cycle of unexpected weight. His rows give this catalogue’s French repertoire its native accent.
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