André Navarra (1911–1988), together with Pierre Fournier and Maurice Gendron, was acknowledged as one of the “three great” French cellists who left their mark on the European concert life of their era. He was born in Biarritz, won first prizes at the age of 13 and 16, and gained early practical experience in chamber-music ensembles before celebrating his solo debut in 1931 with the Concerts Colonne. After a stupendous competition win in 1937 in Vienna he began an international career that was to last for more than three decades. In parallel, Navarra began teaching: starting in 1949 (until 1979) he was professor at the Paris Conservatoire; from 1953 he also taught at the Accademia in Siena and at the Vienna College of Music, and from 1958 to 1986 he was a member of the illustrious teaching team at the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie in Detmold, where his colleague on violin Tibor Varga taught. He can be heard playing with Varga on this extensive release.
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REVIEW:
This desirable and generally well-transferred set features a wide range of recordings spanning the length and breadth of the fine cellist André Navarra’s career, the latest being from 1984 when he was well into his seventies and still playing with a full, vibrant tone. There are two versions of the Schumann Concerto, the broader one under Barbirolli (recorded live in 1962), the other from 11 years earlier under André Cluytens, both with ravishing accounts of the slow movement. In the Dvorák Concerto under Rudolf Schwarz, Navarra plays with great vitality and no lack of passion. Between this set and the Prague recordings on Supraphon’s equally recommendable collection you have a fairly comprehensive representation of Navarra’s art.
