35 years ago, on June 13, 1989, harpsichordist Scott Ross, one of the artists who marked the history of their instrument, left us at the age of 38. Several tributes are planned, this summer and fall. One man strives more than anything to ensure that the memory of this extraordinary artist lives: Nicolas Bomsel, former producer at France Musique, linchpin of the monumental project of 555 Sonatas by Scarlatti who helped make the American musician known to the entire planet.
“It would not be interesting to want to publish everything that Scott Ross recorded if his legacy was dated. But Scott is timeless in his playing and interpretation. As much as the character could be provocative or eccentric, his acting was ultimately quite classic,” Nicolas Bomsel tells us.
Quebec presence
The producer remembers: “Beyond being a wonderful reader, he was a musician who made music flow with a kind of obviousness, so much so that in 1971, when he won the Bruges competition At the age of 20, Gustav Leonhardt told Kenneth Gilbert, about a Prelude and fugue of Well-tempered keyboard : “He seems to play it like he wrote it himself.” This is the mark of great performers: we do not ask ourselves whether a given work can be played differently; we accept a kind of evidence. »
When you search for Scott Ross recordings today on the largest online sales brand, you find his complete Scarlatti at Erato and a Bach box set of 11 CDs published by Erato in September 2019. The latter included the two books by Well-tempered keyboardstudio documents produced by Radio-Canada.
The harpsichordist’s link with Canada and Quebec is very close, as Nicolas Bomsel tells us. “In Bruges, in 1971, he won a 1er prize which had never been awarded until then. At the time, he returned as a passenger in a truck to Paris, because he was an orphan [sa mère qui l’avait amené en France à l’âge de 13 ans en quête d’un avenir meilleur s’était donné la mort l’année précédente]he was in a destitute situation and on 1er The price was only attached to a symbolic sum and to no concert. Scott Ross left the Conservatoire, he was angry with Robert Veyron-Lacroix [professeur au Conservatoire de Paris] and had no instrument. Kenneth Gilbert offered to continue working with him at Laval University. After a year, Kenneth told him: “I’m going to Europe, I have this job, you don’t have enough concerts, you don’t have resources, I suggest you take the job.” At 20, you don’t necessarily want that, but Scott moved to Quebec and stayed there for more than 10 years. He was able to give concerts in Canada and record for Radio-Canada, notably on the organ on local instruments. He stayed from 1973 to 1985, although from 1983 onwards, he had mostly returned to France. »
Meteoric
When you think about it, the journey of this artist is dizzying. Scott Ross was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1951. Arriving in France at age 13, he entered Huguette Grémy-Chauliac’s class at the Nice Conservatory in October 1965. He went to Paris in 1969, winning Bruges in 1971, went to earn his living in Quebec in 1973, returned in 1983, signed his recording contract with Erato the same year, died in 1989 and therefore built a true legend in a flash.
The icing on the cake: half of Scott Ross’ legacy has been inaccessible for three decades, because documented by the Stil label. Created in 1971, Stil is the work of one of the “characters” of the profession, Alain Villain. The latter created Stil in 1971. Nicolas Bomsel is one of the few people still in contact with Alain Villain, 83, sitting on his recorded treasure.
He remembers how the paths of “ bad boy » of the harpsichord and the outsider of the music industry crossed paths. “Scott being in Canada, he returned to France during the summer, generally to Assas, a few kilometers north of Montpellier, because he had established links with Simone Demangel, owner of the castle of Assas and this sublime harpsichord, which he made famous. Madame Demangel had hosted and taken care of him when he was preparing for the Bruges competition. Alain Villain, who came from the world of graphic arts, was interested in music, particularly the organ. He came into contact with Scott Ross through a historic organ specialist in France and harpsichord maker named Pierre Dumoulin. You know, at the beginning of the 1970s, there were less than ten people interested in early music in France! »
This is how Villain suggested to Scott Ross to document the harpsichord of the Château d’Assas in complete works by Rameau in 1975, then François Couperin in 1977-1978. These records draw attention to the instrument – still famous today, since Benjamin Alard recorded volume 3 of his complete Bach there – but also to the young harpsichordist. Specialists cry it a miracle.
“We have ups and downs…” says Nicolas Bomsel about his relationship with Villain. He remains optimistic that one day the one who owns all of Rameau, all of François Couperin by Scott Ross will be forced to fold (the price of the extremely rare Couperin box set on the second-hand market is now $1,500), but also a first recording of 30 Sonatas by Scarlatti and the very first record, Bach, in 1973.
The adventure of a short life
After his time with Erato, Scott Ross recorded Handel records, the Partitas by Bach, the Soler and D’Anglebert anthologies and the famous Scarlatti complete. He ultimately moved to EMI for Goldberg Variations and a Frescobaldi CD.
Nicolas Bomsel remembers the Scarlatti adventure. “I met Scott when he was returning to France and invited him for a new series of radio concerts. He tells me about the contract with Erato that he is signing and says: “I would like to do the Scarlatti.” It was a crazy project, but I was aware that he was capable of doing it in a very short time, the time frame of 1985, the year Bach-Handel-Scarlatti, while it was the beginning of 1984. I came up with the idea of the serial, which corresponded to what France Musique could do, by broadcasting two sonatas per day, which materialized between March and December 1985. I managed to sell the project, which would be totally infeasible today, according to the director of France Musique at the time, René Koering. At first, he threw me out, but he received me a second time to tell me: “You manage and if Erato agrees, we’ll do it.” In a week, it was complete. »
“Scott wanted to propel the harpsichord to a level of notoriety that the instrument had only known at the time of Wanda Landowska. He wanted to stimulate repertoire discovery. For Scarlatti, Kenneth Gilbert produced a new edition. Beyond the Kirkpatrick edition, Gilbert edited the 11 volumes at Heugel and this edition was completed at the time of recording; it was very fresh music. Just the idea of pairing sonatas in pairs, in the old Longo edition, it was necessary to take a sonata from one volume and one from another side, while the new edition made it possible to take the Kirkpatrick order in itself giving a new consistency. »
Nicolas Bomsel reveals to us that Scott Ross had wanted to “start this adventure with Radio-Canada, but quickly saw that he would never succeed”. He also specifies that “whatever anyone says, he was not at all ill” at the time of this complete.
The 35e anniversary of the death of the harpsichordist will lead to the restoration of a portrait filmed in 1985 at the Chartreuse de Villeneuve lez Avignon by Bernard Tournois and Martina Catella and of a concert filmed in the studio in the hall of the Le Ranelagh theater, in Paris, which will be broadcast by Mezzo and Medici.
Nicolas Bomsel also tries to interest Warner in a tribute box set and in enriching the Bach box set with new documents. The National Audiovisual Institute will publish a Radio France archive box set and the issue of the magazine Tuning fork of June, including a file of testimonies accompanied by a CD of an unpublished recital given at the Montreux festival in 1987.