The harpist Lily Laskine (1893-1988) was a popular and influential figure whose name was particularly closely identified with the Erato label, although she also recorded for EMI. The first woman to play in the orchestra of the Paris Opéra, she made her first recording for Erato – Mozart’s Concerto f
The harpist Lily Laskine (1893-1988) was a popular and influential figure whose name was particularly closely identified with the Erato label, although she also recorded for EMI. The first woman to play in the orchestra of the Paris Opéra, she made her first recording for Erato – Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp with Jean-Pierre Rampal – in 1958, when she was already 65. She made her last Erato recording 23 years later. Her stereo remake of the Mozart concerto (again partnering with Rampal), recorded in 1963, remains an all-time classical bestseller in France. In addition to works by Mozart, Vivaldi, Handel, Rossini, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Debussy, Roussel and Ibert, the Laskine box contains a wealth of music by more rarely-heard composers, including Bochsa, Boïeldieu, Büsser, Caplet, Damase, D’Almivare, Duvernoy, Garat, Gossec, Jadin, Jolivet, Krumpholz, Nadermann, Pierné and Reinecke.