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UNCG School of Music Celebrates Ericourt Centennial
School reissues Debussy’s piano works, recorded by his premier interpreter

GREENSBORO – The UNCG School of Music will celebrate the legacy of Daniel Ericourt, former artist-in-residence and world-renowned pianist, with the reissue of his recordings of the complete solo piano works of Claude Debussy.

December 2003 marks the centennial of Ericourt’s birth and the re-release of his music will be celebrated Sunday, Dec. 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the School of Music Recital Hall. The evening will begin with a tribute to Ericourt, featuring anecdotes from family friends and a video from his weekly television program, “The Ericourt Forum of Music and Arts.”

Charles Timbrell, professor of music at Howard University, has been invited to speak on French pianism. Timbrell authored “French Pianism: A Historical Perspective” in 1992, interviewing Ericourt as an expert source. Timbrell will also play a recently discovered, unpublished work by Debussy. A free reception, open to the public, will follow.

Ericourt’s distinguished career as a performer and teacher began in his native France with his first piano lessons at age 6. He quickly joined the ranks of the world’s best musicians. He was classmates with Aaron Copland while studying with Nadia Boulanger, performed in a benefit concert with Claude Debussy, and taught in Spain with Andres Segovia, Gaspar Cassado and Alicia De Larrocha.

Ericourt moved to the United States in 1926, taking a position with the Cincinnati Conservatory. However, he left in 1934 to devote more time to a concert career and toured the world before returning to the United States in 1957.

In 1961, the New York Times reported, “Mr. Ericourt has taken to heart a direction that comes up time and again in the score, ‘sans rigueur.’ Each phrase, each passage is played for its own meaning, and its own color, with a freedom that would not be allowed even in the works of the leading Romantics.”

Ericourt came to UNCG in 1963 as artist-in-residence. Here he produced and hosted “The Ericourt Forum of Music and Arts.” After 13 years at the School of Music he left the post. In 1979 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the university.

Music never left his life; he continued to perform until he was 92. He died in 1998 at the age of 94.

The four-CD set is re-mastered from original recordings Ericourt made in the 1960s for KAPP Records. The CDs are being produced by Ivory Classics and will be available for $30 a set at www.ivoryclassics.com. They can also be purchased at amazon.com and Borders Books and Music in Greensboro.
 
 

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