Background
Ferras was born at Le Touquet in 1933. He began studying the violin with his father.
Ferras was born at Le Touquet in 1933. He began studying the violin with his father.
Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse.
He entered the Conservatoire de Nice as a student of Charles Bistesi in 1941, and in 1943 obtained the First Prize. In 1944 he went to the Conservatoire de Paris. He worked with Romanian violinist and composer George Enescu, who also acted as an instructor.
The Violin Concerto by Federico Elizalde was premiered by Ginette Neveu in Paris in 1944, but Christian Ferras gave its London premiere under the direction of Gaston Poulet, in the presence of the composer, and made the world premiere recording on 7 November 1947, at the age of 14.
He premiered Arthur Honegger"s Sonata for Solo Violin in the Salle Gaveau on 16 November 1948. lieutenant was there that he met Pierre Barbizet, with whom he formed one of the most famous partnerships in the history of piano-violin collaboration.
In 1950 he, along with Jean-Pierre Rampal and George Enescu, recorded various works by J.S. Bach. lieutenant was at this point that his career took off when he was invited by Karl Böhm to play with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1951.
He subsequently gave a series of concerts in, amongst other places, Japan and South America.
In 1952, he premiered both Claude Pascal"s violin sonata, and (with Pierre Barbizet), he premiered Double Concerto by Ivan Semenoff. In 1954, he recorded Brahms"s Violin Concerto with Carl Schuricht. 1959 was a year in which Ferras rose to real prominence: he began his career in the United States by playing Brahms"s concerto under Charles Munch.
Recorded Bach"s Double Concerto with Yehudi Menuhin.
Played at the Prades Festival with Pablo Casals and Wilhelm Kempff. And premiered Gyula Bando"s Violin Concerto.
In 1960 he premiered Serge Nigg"s Concerto, which the composer is said to have written "for the violin and not without the violin". Ferras made many recordings with Electric and Music Industries, including Beethoven"s sonatas for piano and violin with Pierre Barbizet (1958) Berg"s chamber concerto and his Violin Concerto "to the memory of an angel".
He went on in 1964 to record the Brahms Concerto with Herbert von Karajan for the Deutsche Grammophon label, and then the concertos of Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Bach, which are the recordings for which he is most admired.
He continued to make recordings with Deutsche Grammophon: with Barbizet, the violin sonatas of Brahms, Schumann, Franck and Lekeu. Christian Ferras struggled with severe lifelong depression. He committed suicide in Paris on 14 September 1982, aged 49.