©Photo: B Ealovega

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet

Piano

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“…he makes you listen to music as if you are discovering it Eureka!-style: yes, that’s what the composer must have meant.”
(Financial Times)

Award-winning pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet enjoys a prolific recording and international concert career. He regularly works with orchestras such as The Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, BBC Symphony and NHK Symphony orchestras, and collaborates with conductors including Vladimir Jurowski, Gianandrea Noseda, François-Xavier Roth, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Vasily Petrenko, Ludovic Morlot, Edward Gardner, and Sir Andrew Davis among others.

Highlights of the 2020/21 season include Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestras, a play direct week with Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and his continued relationship with Manchester Camerata. In recital, Bavouzet commences his residency at Wigmore Hall and performs at Beethoven-Haus Bonn among others.

Bavouzet’s previous performances include New York’s Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonie de Paris with Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, and BBC Proms with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Nicholas Collon. In the 2019/20 Season, he returned to Toronto and Seattle symphonies, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and toured the UK with the Iceland Symphony under Yan Pascal Tortelier.

Bavouzet records exclusively for Chandos and his recent CD release ‘The Beethoven Connection’ received numerous accolades from magazines including Gramophone, BBC Music and Choc-Classica and the New York Times. Ongoing cycles include the complete Haydn Piano Sonatas and the complete Mozart Piano Concertos with the Manchester Camerata and Gábor Takács-Nagy; their fourth volume was nominated for a Gramophone Award in 2020. In September 2020, the complete Beethoven Concertos were released with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra play/directed by Bavouzet.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Ravel: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (excerpt) with Juraj Valčuha © Hr-Sinfonieorchester

Other recordings include Bartók’s Piano Concerto’s and the complete Prokofiev Piano Concertos with the BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Noseda – the latter won the Concerto category of the 2014 Gramophone Awards. Under Yan-Pascal Tortelier, he recorded Stravinsky’s Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra with Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo and the Ravel Piano concertos with the BBC Symphony Orchestra which won both a Gramophone and BBC magazine award. Bavouzet’s recordings have also garnered Diapason d’Or and Choc de l’année awards.

Bavouzet has worked closely with Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Kurtág, Maurice Ohana, Bruno Mantovani and Jörg Widmann and is also a champion of lesser-known French music, notably that of Gabriel Pierné and Albéric Magnard. He is the International Chair in Piano at the Royal Northern College of Music and an Advisory Board member of the Pianofest in the Hamptoms. In 2012 he was ICMA Artist of the Year and in 2008 he was awarded Beijing’s first ever Elite Prize for his Beethoven complete sonata series.

Gallery

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Debussy: Images (Book one) Reflets Dans L’eau with Juraj Valčuha © Hr-Sinfonieorchester

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Debussy: Complete Piano Works (excerpt) © Chandos

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Haydn: Piano Sonatas Vol. 1 (excerpt) © Chandos

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Massenet: Toccata (excerpt) © Chandos

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Beethoven: Sonata No. 2 (excerpt) © Chandos

… he conveys the audacity and cunning virtuosity that must have characterised the proud young Beethoven’s own piano-playing.”

[Gramophone, October 2020]

“… his cultivated piano-playing is so polished that precious few of his colleagues could claim superiority in purely technical terms. All in all, [Beethoven: the Complete Piano Concertos] are keenly intelligent performances, brimful of spirit and energy…”

[Gramophone, October 2020]

“Throughout [The Beethoven Connection CD], Bavouzet affords all the same poetic exactitude, emotional intelligence and musical fidelity that marked out his three-volume Beethoven Sonata cycle for Chandos. The result is a fascinating and satisfying compendium…”

(Limelight Magazine, August 2020)

“ [‘The Beethoven Connection’] recording embodies a brilliant idea, brilliantly carried out… The sweetness and transparency of the opening Allegro [Dussek] has winning charm; the finale luxuriates in its own easy virtuosity.”

(BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE, AUGUST 2020)

“The latest recording, from Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and the Manchester Camerata on Chandos, is terrifically alert and alive.”

(The Telegraph, APRIL 2020)

“Bavouzet is an artist of true interpretive gift, born to the stage and to the spontaneity each moment has to offer.”

(January 2020, Ludwig van Toronto)

“The breadth of pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s repertoire is remarkable. His interpretations of Bartók’s piano concertos have gained much attention. Bringing the third to the Ulster Hall, Bavouzet’s playing was nothing short of spectacular.”

(Leighton Jones, Bachtrack, December 2019)

“His range of colours is [wide], without any self-conscious attempt to ‘orchestrate’, and his sparkle and caprice are especially delicious in the finale [of Haydn’s E flat Sonata].”

(Gramophone, July 2019)

“There’s no better interpreter of Haydn today than Bavouzet: he has the secret of unlocking both his individuality and sheer quality.”

(MICHAEL GREENHALGH, MUSIC WEB INTERNATIONAL, JULY 2019)

“Bavouzet inspires, entertains and embodies the playfulness and grace of Mozart’s much-loved works. A very fine recording.”

(Martin Cullingford - EDITOR’S CHOICE, GRAMOPHONE, JUNE 2019)

“The Frenchman, whose complete Debussy piano works is one of the stand-out recording projects of recent times, plays with the ‘fluid transparency’ of the composer himself […]”

(BBC Music Magazine, Freya Parr, March 2019)

“Despite the monstrous virtuosity of [Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand] that easily gives the illusion of a score for two hands, the touch of his left hand is quite capable of softness in the midrange and treble registers, and a great power in the lower register.”

(Bachtrack, Emmanuel Deroeux, March 2019)

“The French pianist confers the appropriate speed of a frenzied cavalcade in [Schumann’s Piano Sonata No.3] Prestissimo possibile conclusive, strewn with furious trémolos, and preserves everywhere an exemplary clarity. Superb!” (5 stars)

(Diapason, Bertrand Boissard, March 2019)

“Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is one of the finest pianists of his generation and this evening we heard him in Ravel’s piano concerto for his left hand. Ravel’s concerto is highly dramatic, and played with Bavouzet’s virtuosity, the feathery strikes, and the stomping jazz rhythms gave it an audible impression of being composed for both hands.”

(Aften Bladet, Arnfinn Bø-Rygg, February 2019)

“The Frenchman knows exactly what he is doing: the finale [of Schumann’s Piano Sonata No.3] is a masterclass in precision and clarity, even at speed, its more lyrical writing brought fully alive.”

(Gramphone, Harriet Smith, February 2019)

“Ever a supremely intelligent musician, Bavouzet brings clarity, gentleness and urgency to all, with a sense of distilled struggle in [Schumann’s] five Gesänge der Frühe (Songs at Dawn).”

(The Guardian, Fiona Maddocks, February 2019)

“A faultless disc to bring great joy. [Haydn Piano Sonatas, Volume 7].”

(International Piano Magazine, CC, December 2018)

“[In Debussy’s L’Isle joyeuse] Bavouzet celebrates one last time his overwhelming pianistic skills, with technical mastery, crystal-clear structuring and above all, transparency.”

(Mittags um zwölf - Der Blog de klassischen Musik, Peter Hagmann, November 2018)

“Bavouzet binds clarity with emotion as well as with sophistication and charm. He proves to be a powerful stylist, articulating Haydn’s ideas with perfect understanding and empathy, outlining the phrases with witty precision[…]”

(Die Oberbadische, Jürgen Scharf, November 2018)

“In [Debussy’s] Feux d’artifice Bavouzet fires off a stunningly breath-taking pianistic firework to leave the public open-mouthed. After this dazzling recital the enthusiastic public was taken to the L’isle joyeuse ‑paradisiac!”

(Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Jan Brachmann, November 2018)

“A five-star experience was the appearance of French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet…he is one of the world’s outstanding pianists in French repertoire”

(Sächsische Zeitung, Jens-Uwe Sommerschuh, November 2017)

“…he was magnificent in Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand, giving a louche bravura to the music’s many moods. Most pianists play the opening theme sotto voce, to give themselves the best chance of making the following crescendo as mighty as possible. Bavouzet flung it out with statuesque nobility, judging he had power enough to spare, and he was right.”

(The Telegraph, Ivan Hewett and John Allison, October 2017)

“His performance of this effervescent composition was without technical flaw. The opening Allegramente crackled with energy”

(Performing Arts Hub, David Barmby, September 2017)

“The final romp of a finale exuded wit and charm, driving rhythms prevailing throughout with the pianist’s touch ranging from utmost delicacy to the incisive precision of the syncopated staccato chords”

(Classic Melbourne, September 2017)

“Bavouzet injected a sense of mystery to the fantasy section and made smart work of Mozart’s rather flashy cadenza.”

(Robert Beale, The Arts Desk, March 2017)

“The music is lit with quick wit, intelligence, and shafts of tenderness”

(The Financial Times, December 2016)

“there are few pianists with the recreative fantasy that Bavouzet brings to just about everything he plays.”

(Gramophone, November 2016)

“The solo playing sparkles, the orchestra is alive with detail, everything a delight.”

(Richard Fairman, Financial Times, October 2016)

“Assured in his own art, he commands a fully matured artistry, lacking neither subtlety or dynamism.”

(Santa Barbara News-Press, April 2016)

“Expansive, beautifully realized, but never lacking in virtuosity. This was music-making that was controlled but seemingly spontaneous and on occasion, electrifying. Little wonder that the capacity audience jumped to its feet at the end. I can’t remember a performance so completely satisfying.”

(Seen and Heard, February 2016)

“Pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, first heard here playing Prokofiev, mirrored his caffeinated 2010 debut with Ravel of the most vibrant, eye-opening sort. In the outer movements, Bavouzet wielded touches both hard-edged and feathery, imbuing Ravel’s ceaselessly active music with the strongest doses of whatever character it demanded. Yet never did he fail as a collaborator; Throughout, the pianist mimicked and engaged the harp, woodwinds and strings in pointed conversation. The pinnacle was the Adagio. Out of its touching solo theme, Bavouzet and orchestra crafted a lavish and ultimately hugely impassioned episode, one that developed naturally and boasted limpid contributions from soloists all over the ensemble. Their music contained not just all the color absent from the region but also the warmth.”

(The Plain Dealer, February 2016)

“This was, I thought, a Beethoven performance of undeniable greatness: not different for the sake of it, but asserting its – and Beethoven’s – difference through a Pollini-like re-examination of the material(…) All Beethoven performances should, if only briefly, restore one’s faith in humanity; this one did.”

(Mark Berry, Seen and Heard, February 2016)

“Jean-Efflam Bavouzet played the solo in Liszt’s second piano concerto with virtuoso panache and alertness to its changing moods, from tenderness to bombast.”

(Robert Beale, Manchester Evening News, February 2016)

“The evening’s highlight was Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s dashing account of the bimanual Ravel Piano Concerto, which combined technical facility with enormous musical sensibility to create a memorable performance.”

(Bachtrack, January 2016)

“The lovely opening to the A flat Sonata was beautifully done, with just the right spaciousness and clarity of fingering. It was in the final movement – by turns poetically reflective and fugally stern – that Bavouzet rose most fully to the challenge, creating momentum in the final pages that seemed to storm the heavens.”

(Martin Kettle, The Guardian, January 2016)