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Unforgettably enriching encounters and music making with Boulez, Rihm, Widmann, Mantovani, Ch Tetzlaff, Kocsis, Perenyi and other great musicians

Arriving toward the finish line with the complete concertos in company of the Manchester Camerata conducted by Gabor Takacs-Nagy

Rebecca Franks: "It's the eighth in a series that's has been garlanded with five-star reviews - and this one deserves another, for its zest and style"

"No better Haydn sonata cycle on a modern instrument exists, period."

With Manchester Camerata under the direction of Gabor Takacs-Nagy

Piano and flute solo, concerto and orchestral works with BBC Philharmonic conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier and Adam Walker

First review in Gramophone March 2023 by Patrick Rucker
"..these are performances of warmth and beauty that continue to deliver fresh insights even after repeated hearings"

GRAMOPHONE December 2022
" A truly remarkable ending to a series that sets the benchmark for future Haydn contenders"

NEW YORK TIMES 2022
"Bavouzet’s Haydn is unmatched in its zest and its wit. But it is also substantial, informed and deeply rewarding."

THE SUNDAY TIME Dan Cairns
"A project that began in 2011 is completed; what a journey it has been. Bavouzet’s gifts of insightful exposition and revelation are matched by the wisdom of his curation… A triumph. "

CLASSICS TODAY Jed Distler 2022
"Bavouzet’s Haydn Cycle: A Triumphant Conclusion"

Thoughts and impressions of Ravel's G major Concerto

"Bavouzet digs deep to add fresh insights to Mozart"

"The point and refinement Bavouzet's elegant phrasing exemplifies Mozart's famous description how certain passages should "flow like oil".
GRAMOPHONE by Jed Distler

"Jean-Efflam Bavouzet est un phénomène...tête d'affiche du Printemps des Arts de Monte Carlo 2022, nous a offert une fête des sens et du sens en trois concerts... Son deuxième livre des Préludes restera dans les mémoires..."
Le Figaro March 18 2022 by Christian Merlin

"The delight of these recordings lies in Bavouzet's pianism. His touch is wonderfully flexible and in the Allegro movements his Soud is bright, incisive and smart as a whip. Drawing on a very wide palette, he gives each work its own coloring... Bavouzet keeps the tension going so we hang on every note...."

REVIEWS
GRAMOPHONE by Michelle Assay
"this is another remarkable addition to Bavouzet’s invaluable survey.
LIMELIGHT by Paul Ballam-Cross
"Bavouzet’s enthusiastic endorsement of Yamaha pianos merits its own page in the liner notes, so it’s perhaps his use of these instruments that generates such a clean line. Or, quite possibly, it’s simply Bavouzet’s mastery of this repertoire on display."

"... Bavouzet takes us into the realm of the sublime with the first movement of the Fourth Concerto. I’m not sure I can even find words to describe the feeling of blessed serenity he instills in those opening solo measures. I’ve never heard any pianist find in them Bavouzet’s particular mix of holiness, awe, and benediction. It’s as if, concentrated and revealed in those five bars, is the meaning of everything..For me, I can’t imagine wanting to hear anyone in these concertos ahead of Bavouzet. He tells me everything I want to hear in these works, fulfilling my deepest convictions as to their meaning, and my every expectation for how their stories need to be told."

"Of all the Beethoven 250 releases that have come my way in 2020, this is the one I’ve enjoyed the most. Just when you thought there was nothing new to say about these repertoire staples, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and his Swedish team come along and remind you that they contain bottomless riches, and can still sound freshly minted two centuries after their creation...The set is crowned with a fantastic rendition of the Emperor...The piano unfolds gently from within, its soft, dreamy hue completely bewitching, and the orchestral sound is a total delight"

"Un mythe en perspective... formidable sens de l'improvisation.... autorité suprême"
CLASSICA. October 2020 by Melissa Khong

"This recording embodies a brilliant idea, brilliantly carried out"

"Bavouzet has chosen a particularly happy way to celebrate Beethoven this year... (his) keen intelligence and pristine musicianship are evident throughout"

NEW YORK TIMES interview: https://nyti.ms/2MGPnkr

FINANCIAL TIMES ***** review by R Fairman
"All four (sonatas) will win admirers in Bavouzet’s dazzlingly persuasive performances"
THECLASSICREVIEW by David A. McConnell
"the ever-imaginative Jean-Efflam Bavouzet here offers an inspired program of music by four of Beethoven’s contemporaries...Bavouzet describing how these sonatas relate to Beethoven’s music.brilliant and passionate scholarship!@

"Bavouzet's agility and charm are underlined in his own cadenza for the finale, a brief but twinkling concoction..that would have startled but surely delighted Mozart.... Bavouzet's performances are given with "beaded bubbles winking at the brim" - Keat's wonderfully apt metaphor - and he is ideally partnered by Takacs-Nagy."

Album of the Week THE TIMES https://bit.ly/347UEt4
Album of the Week CLASSICFM https://bit.ly/2Xd3Ivg
Trophée ion RADIO CLASSIQUE https://bit.ly/2UuGAqw

KV175 * KV238 * KV246 "Lützow" * KV271 "Jenamy"

«Complètement Mozart.  Mélancolique, électrique, lyrique, tragique: Bavouzet et Takacs-Nagy ont tout compris »

"... is an exemplary exchange of ideas from the soloist and orchestra, concluding a performance of K.467 for the books." The Classic Review, by Tal Agam June 6, 2019

Gramophone's Harriet Smith says: "The Frenchman knows exactly what he is doing: the finale is a masterclass in precision and clarity, even at speed, its more lyrical writing brought fully alive."

"..the highlight in this performance comes in the central Andante where soloist, conductor and orchestra conjures up a magical sound world.."

"As before, the score is a starting point for him, not holy writ, and he grants himself full liberty to negotiate with Haydn, ornamenting and varying as he goes along, yet never obscuring the music’s purpose or pulling the spotlight away from it and towards himself. ..this volume is another stepping stone towards what must surely end up as a major modern recording landmark in the Haydn discography."

"there is an effervescence to this French musician that is simply irresistible"

"We heard spectacular playing throughout the day, but with the whole unbroken sequence of this book of Préludes our musical engagement was sustained and cumulative, making a brilliant conclusion to our Hommage. What a great composer, and what a great advocate for his genius."

"BAVOUZET’s technique itself is masterful, bringing poetry to finger-strength nightmares such as No. 9 “For repeated notes,” and lightening sureness in the fiendish No. 12 “Pour les Accords”

"Jean-Efflam Bavouzet 's vigorous reading of Grieg’s Piano Concerto, shading its flinty, self-serious motives with sparkle and wit."

Debussy project in the Barbican March 25

CHAN 10960

Cast your vote at https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/vote-for-the-gramophone-artist-of-the-year-2017

"Bavouzet casts magic over the orchestra’s background accompaniment with his faultless, seamless execution of passagework and his exquisite phrasing of melodies"

"Bavouzet brings erudition, insight and boundless energy to his complete cycle of Beethoven sonatas. Jeremy Nicholas can't help but finding himself bowled over by the Gallic charm and boundless enthousiasm of this unique and stimulating talent"

Full review by Stephen Plaistow at http://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/best-new-classical-albums-december-2016

"Bavouzet, who has produced exceptional recordings of the Bartók concertos for Chandos, is the ardent admirer who mentions Bartók in the same breath as Bach and Beethoven as a composer who wanted his music to “save the soul” Thoughts on the difficulty of programming and performing the Bartok Piano concertos

"All Beethoven performances should, if only briefly, restore one’s faith in humanity; this one did... A Beethoven performance of undeniable greatness...Bavouzet’s way in general with these works was perhaps the most brazenly modernistic, both in sound and often in interpretative strategy..A performance Boulez would have admired"

A clever idea of Jean-Efflam BAVOUZET to gather on a record centring on Stravinsky as pianist, three major works, the Concerto, confronting if not reconciling Baroque and tango within a classical framework; the multi-serialist Mouvements, hard as a diamond; and the enjoyable Carpiccio, also acknowledging the piano origins of Petrushka.

'My impressions of Bavouzet are of his selfless concentration, understanding, boundless musical energy, and in everything offered his command of timing and of the glorious variety and drama of these compositions.'

"There was sparkle aplenty in Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto, too, but this time generated most obviously by some fairly stunning pianism from Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. This often understated, always musical, pianist here turned into a dynamo, fizzing up and down the keyboard with the energy of a nuclear reaction. It was a cracking performance which, for energy and excitement, rivalled even Danil Trifonov’s EIF opener back in 2013, and that’s saying something."

French programm with works of Debussy, Ravel, Mantovani,Decaux, Pierné and Massenet

JEB talks about some of his recordings

Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments - Capriccio - Movements - Pétrouchka

"Energy and precision from Bavouzet . It’s hard to imagine better."
The Guardian, by Fiona Maddocks

Still broadcast during the week of 26 January

Charles Sigel invites Jean-Efflam Bavouzet for two hours of music and conversation.

"C'est un des meilleurs pianistes actuels. Le monde entier le sait. Son pays, la France, un peu moins. Depuis fort longtemps, c'est ailleurs qu'il triomphe. Rencontre avec un musicien boulimique, curieux de tout, enthousiaste et enthousiasmant."

...After this, the superb French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet was soloist in Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Those expecting a French artist to exemplify stereotypical French sensibilities, like refinement, might have been surprised by Mr. Bavouzet’s crisp, incisive playing. This was a bracing account of a familiar piece. There was no dawdling in ruminative variations, and just enough use of expressive rubato in episodes of soaring lyricism.

After receiving a big ovation, Mr. Bavouzet played a solo encore: Debussy’s Prelude “Feux d’artifice” (“Fireworks”). This performance conveyed all the wildness of this swirling, dizzying music. The leap from this work to the Ligeti études seemed not that far.

First reviews of the USA tour

CHSA5142

Chandos CHAN10802

"Superb Prokofiev piano concertos cycle from Jean-Efflam Bavouzet"
"Bavouzet is on magnificent form"

"Après une très remarquable intégrale Debussy, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet a entrepris une intégrale des sonates de Haydn régulièrement saluée dans nos pages. Rencontre avec un artist curieux de tout."

"A quite wonderful pianist - in his prime... the virtuosity often breathtaking but his control is as much musical as technical... Boundless musical energy and in everything offered him command of timing and of the glorious variety and drama of these compositions.."

IRR features JEBavouzet on its cover at the occasion of the release of the 5 Prokofiev concertos with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Giandandrea Noseda on Chandos

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE February 2014 issue

Podcast of the recital available on France Musique until February 17

Replay from BBC Radio 3 available until 12th of August

Biennale in Venice, Giardini, French exhibition at the German Pavillion

"These are landmark recordings, thanks to the French pianist's stylistic command and sheer delight in the music" Andrew Clark, Financial Times April 5 2013

Listen to Classic fm to hear more recordings of Jean-Efflam

Issue 68 has somewhat of a French flair to it. To mark the 150th anniversary of Debussy’s birth, we are devoting some of our features to French piano music. Charismatic Frenchman Jean-Efflam Bavouzet adorns our cover. Over the past few years Bavouzet has made a real name for himself on the concert platform and in the recording studio – his recordings of French piano music have won numerous awards. Inge Kjemtrup catches up with him between recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall.

GRAND AND DAZZLING HAYDN
Bayan Nothcott enjoys Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's stunning sonata recital: "Among the finest accounts on disc: searchingly nuanced"

"This is among the finest accounts on disc: searchingly nuanced from moment to moment yet never losing its grip on the work's tragic progress.

Bavouzet's reading of the three selected Sonatas in this latest instalment of his ongoing series are all equally illuminating in different ways. He's wonderfully dry and droll in the opening movement of the early Sonata No.30, and dazzling in the quick changes of its rondo-variaton finale. He brings an almost Chopinesque resonance to the lilting Siciliana-like Adagio of the Sonata No.38 and crisp grandeur to the discursive opening of the more popular-style Sonata No. 40."
(...)

REVIEW

INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW - September 2012

"it is certainly worth acquisition not only for Bavouzet's positive assets as outlined above, to which can be added a generous dose of wit and sparkle but also, of course, for the marvellous music it contains.The F minor Variations may well be familiar as one of Haydn's greatest keyboards works, with their huge and sombre coda finally dissolving pianissimo. The composer's designation of them as Un piccolo divertimento must have preceded the actual work of composition! WHat ingenuity and originality and teasing of player and listener alike there is in the sonatas that Bavouzet has carefully placed alongside each other."

By Piers Burton-Page

Voting closes on August 27, so please vote and spread the news!


Link here: http://www.gramophone.co.uk/artist-of-the-year-2012

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Previous "Artist of the Year" was Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Photo: Marc Roger ONPL

To see all the winners click on the link below.

"The first installment was dazzling, and the second is too..."

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet embarks on a tour of Canada and the US with Orchestre National de France under the direction of Daniel Gatti, performing Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 and Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G. Concerts include performances in Ottawa’s National Arts Center, Montreal’s Place des Arts, Chicago’s Symphony Center, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center and the Avery Fisher Hall in New York.