** Louis (Jean Baptiste) Cahuzac** (12 July 1880 – 9 August 1960) was a French clarinetist and composer. Cahuzac was an outstanding performer and one of the few clarinetists who made a career as a soloist in the first part of the 20th century.

Life and career

Louis Cahuzac was born in Quarante, in Languedoc, in the south of France. His teachers were Felix Pagès in Toulouse conservatoire and Cyrille Rose in the Paris Conservatory. Cahuzac made the first recording of Carl Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto, a piece originally written for the Danish clarinetist Aage Oxenvad. On 22 November 1956, at the age of 76, he recorded the Clarinet Concerto in A major by Paul Hindemith for the EMI music label under the composer's baton. He was a great teacher also and many students became famous like Eduard Brunner (Munich's Bavarian Radio Symphony), Yona Ettlinger, Hans Rudolph Stalder, Gervase de Peyer, André Boutard (Paris Opera) or Gilbert Voisin (Geneva international prize winner in 1950) and Palle Nehammer (Royal Danish Orchestra). Cahuzac died at Bagnères-de-Luchon.

Compositions

His compositions were mainly for the clarinet and all are inspired by his native region in Southern France:

Discography

Recordings by Cahuzac

Recordings of his compositions

Sources