Éric Heidsieck is the son of amateur musicians. From the age of eight he studied with Blanche Bascourret de Gueraldi, under the direction of Alfred Cortot, at the Ecole Normale de Musique and at sixteen entered the Paris Conservatoire where he joined the class of Marcel Ciampi, gaining a premier prix in 1954. He completed his studies with private tuition from Alfred Cortot as well as with Wilhelm Kempff in Positano, Italy.

In Paris Heidsieck has performed the last twelve piano concertos by Mozart and the complete piano sonatas by Beethoven on two occasions, and has also given six recitals of the music of Bartok. A great Beethoven player, Heidseick also excels in the music of Faure. He has often played with cellist Paul Tortelier; and with his wife, Tania, performs as a piano duo. Although he gave a recital at a reception for his parents at London’s Savoy Hotel in 1955, his London recital debut proper was given at the Wigmore Hall in April of 1956. Heidsieck was nineteen years old and a perceptive critic could already hear the quality of Heidsieck’s talent, referring to him as ‘…already an accomplished virtuoso of the piano, and he is a gifted musician also’. In his programme he played Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor, Beethoven’s Variations in C minor WoO 80 and Hindemith’s Piano Sonata No. 2. He returned to London at the age of twenty-two, beginning his Wigmore Hall recital with Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata Op. 106, ‘…and left no doubt whatever in his masterly exposition of it that here is a distinguished musical mind.’ On this occasion he also played Schumann’s Faschingsschwank aus Wien Op. 26 and Roussel’s Sonatine.

During the 1960s and 1970s Heidsieck was popular in France but in the late 1980s he found widespread acclaim in Japan. He visits that country regularly, and gives many master-classes there. During this period Heidsieck also taught at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Lyons.

Heidsieck’s main recordings have been for French EMI, Disques Cassiopee and Teichiku Records in Japan. In 1957 he recorded Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata Op. 106, then some Mozart sonatas and concertos, winning a Grand Prix du Disque for an LP of concertos with Andre Vandernoot. Live performances of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat and Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor Op. 11 were recorded in November 1961. These recordings give an idea of the power and strength of the young Heidsieck. He then recorded a fine disc of Hindemith’s three piano sonatas for EMI. Heidsieck’s major recordings are of the Faure nocturnes, recorded in the early 1960s, and the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, recorded between 1967 and 1973. The Beethoven sonatas are excellent: broad, rugged, virile and rhythmically taut. It is a set that deserves to be better known. EMI France had recorded the complete sonatas in the mono era with Yves Nat, and chose Heidsieck to make the stereo version, so he became only the second French pianist to record the complete set. In Faure, Heidsieck is tender, but not emotional, and achieves a perfect balance between sounding too aloof and too passionate.

For Disques Cassiopee Heidsieck has recorded a large amount of music, including works by Ravel, Debussy, Liszt and Chopin; also Bach partitas, the complete keyboard suites by Handel on four compact discs as well as more Faure: the thirteen barcarolles, preludes from Op. 103, the Ballade Op. 19 and Fantaisie Op. 111 for piano and orchestra, as well as duets with his wife. The Bach partitas are particularly good; Heidseick plays with clarity yet does not try to imitate the harpsichord, giving performances that are sensitive and musically wholly satisfying. His performance of Liszt’s Etude d’execution transcendante No. 7, Eroica, makes one wish that he played more music by this composer. Heidsieck’s first recording for Disques Cassiopee was of Mendelssohn’s Sonata in A flat (1828), a work which had not been recorded before. It was coupled with an excellent version of Schumann’s Faschingsschwank aus Wien Op. 26 which abounds with clarity and vitality. In the early 1970s with Paul Tortelier, Heidsieck recorded the complete sonatas for cello and piano by Beethoven as well as some sets of variations, and has also recorded the Faure cello sonatas with Tortelier. The Japanese recordings are mainly of live recitals Heidsieck gave there in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and number around a dozen compact discs. In 2002 Heidsieck embarked on a new recording of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas for the label Ogam. It would appear that only one disc, containing the last three sonatas, has so far been released.

© Naxos Rights International Ltd. — Jonathan Summers (A–Z of Pianists, Naxos 8.558107–10).