Today, Frédéric Lodéon is probably best known as a man of the media, whose culture and sense of humour have done so much on the French airwaves and TV to spread the knowledge of classical music to a wider audience.

But the former student of Navarra and Rostropovich is first and perhaps foremost an immense cellist, endowed with phenomenal means, refined musicality and an impetuous temperament. Covering a broad spectrum of concerto and chamber music for cello, his discographic legacy for Erato and EMI, collected here for the first time and including numerous CD premieres, is a tribute to his flamboyant style.

26 January 2022 marks Frédéric Lodéon’s 70th birthday.

Born in Paris in a family with Martinican origin, the young Frédéric began learning cello at School of Music of Saint-Omer (North of France) where his father was appointed as director. Proving to be highly talented, he entered then the Conservatoire de Paris where he studied under André Navarra and Jean Hubeau and won cello first prize (1969 unanimously by the jury) and chamber music first prize (1970). At the age of 20, Lodéon won the Maurice Maréchal Prize, then made his debut at Le Grand Échiquier – a famous programme on French TV – replacing Maurice Gendron to play with Yehudi and Hephzibah Menuhin. As a result, he gained immense popularity and launched an international career, performing and recording with his fellow students such as Daria Hovora, Jean-Philippe Collard, Augustin Dumay and Pierre Amoyal. During these years, he also met Mstislav Rostropovich who convinced him to compete in the 1st Rostropovich Competition in 1977 – which could have been a risk as his career was already launched – but he won the prize ex aequo.

From 1992 onwards, he presented and produced prime-time musical programmes on French public television and radio stations, especially his flagship programme Le carrefour de Lodéon. His immense culture, his sharp wit and his sense of humour appeal to a wide audience. He played a central role in the popularisation of classical music in France for almost 30 years.

The present box gathers all the recordings Frédéric Lodéon did for Erato and EMI from 1973 to 1986 including many CD premieres.