The recent ‘discovery’ of the music of Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944) belies the fact that in the early years of the 20th century she was immensely popular, touring both Europe and the US as a pianist, exclusively in her own music.

Changing fashions brought an abrupt end to this fame, but in the first thirty years of the recording industry, up to 1930, over 80 discs of her piano music alone were released. Her own discs from 1901, presented complete here, are some of the earliest by a classical pianist. Many of her most popular pieces were recorded multiple times, but this set presents chronologically at least one version of every work recorded on 78s and introduces as many different pianists as practical.

Recorded 1901–1950