DESCRIPTION:
Fauré: Dolly, Op. 56 - Suite for piano, four hands
Anita Siegel and Babeth Léonet, pianists

Recorded in Paris on May 9, 1934 (first four movements, on 12-inch 78-rpm matrices CLX 1777 and CLX 1778) and November 11, 1934 (remainder, on 10-inch matrices CL 5073 and CL 5074). Issued in France as Columbia DFX 193 and DF 1665, and in the USA, c. 1937, as Columbia 9103-M and 4120-M.

Fauré's "Dolly" Suite is in six movements:

1. Berceuse
2. Mi-a-ou (at 2:46)
3. Le Jardin de Dolly (at 4:35)
4. Kitty-Valse (at 7:01)
5. Tendresse (at 9:06)
6. Le Pas Espagnole (at 12:33)

I can find out little about the performers, save that both were born in 1921, and were therefore aged 12 or 13 when this recording was made. Anita Siegel, a student of Lazare Levy, died in 1943, and this date, combined with her Jewish surname, suggests that she was a Holocaust victim. Babeth Léonet may still be alive at the time of writing (Dec. 2012). She was a student of Marguerite Long, herself renowned as a Fauré interpreter. After the War, Léonet made a handful of recordings for French HMV, both as a soloist (in works by Fauré and Mozart) and as an accompanist (to cellist Pierre Fournier and saxophonist Marcel Mulé).

To download a higher-quality audio file of this recording, please visit my blog, The Shellackophile - http://shellackophile.blogspot.com - where this and many other vintage recordings may be downloaded.