Felix Vivier (clarinet) - Excerpts from Theme Varie and L'Avalanche (De Lannoy & Bouillon) (1928)

There has been interest in the recording of clarinetist Felix Vivier which I recently uploaded, so I now present the other side of the disc, recorded for Edison on 27 March 1928. Vivier's wife Bessie plays the piano accompaniment on one of the Lauter pianos in the Edison studio.

Felix Vivier (born 1880) was a Belgian clarinet player who emigrated to America in 1920 with his English wife Bessie (born 1889). I have been unable to locate a great deal of information about him other than that he was principal clarinet in the Minneapolis Orchestra in 1921-2 and that he later taught, and I cannot find a photograph.

This is an amazing recording, showing Vivier as a master of his instrument. It is regrettable that the two sides he made for Edison seem to be his only recordings.