Information
Composer: Gabriel Pierné
- Marche des petits soldats de plomb, Op. 14 No. 6
- Piano Concerto in C minor, Op. 12
- Divertissement sur un thème pastoral, Op. 49
- Ramuntcho, ballet suites Nos. 1 & 2
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Juanjo Mena, conductor
Date: 2011
Label: Chandos
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Orchestral charm and craftsmanship revealed in a fine Philharmonic recital
Following on from Laurent Wagschal’s recent disc of Pierné’s piano music (Timpani, 2/11, including the sombre and magnificent Variations, for Cortot a major contribution to French keyboard literature), Chandos now issues an orchestral recital of the highest quality, a reminder of charm and craftsmanship too long neglected. The Marche des petits soldats de plomb makes an enchantingly light-hearted curtain-raiser with its mischievous elfin fade-out, while the Divertissements sur un thème pastoral (a gift for the Orchestre Colonne) offers Juanjo Mena and the BBC Philharmonic an opportunity to perform one elegant and stylish variation after another with a thrilling brilliance and engagement. The two Ramuntcho Suites turn to Pierre Loti’s 1897 novel for inspiration. Set in the French Basque country, they are programme music par excellence, with much local colouring including a Fandango and Rapsodie Basque.
However, pride of place must surely go to the Piano Concerto, clearly inspired by Saint-Saëns’s Second Piano Concerto, though with a scintillating character of its own. Only a puritan could resist the second-movement Scherzando, where a jaunty theme is sent spinning through a maze of sparkling Christmas-tree elaboration. There is alternating grandeur and frivolity in the finale which Bavouzet (fresh from triumphs in his Bartók and Ravel concerto recordings) plays with an enthralling virtuosity. Here and elsewhere he makes it difficult to imagine a more bright-eyed and eloquent soloist, and his partners work with him hand-in-glove. For all those who delight in a wholly French grace and magic, this disc is a winner, and it is superbly recorded.
-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone
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Gabriel Pierné (16 August 1863 – 17 July 1937) was a French composer, conductor, pianist and organist. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire; his teachers included Antoine François Marmontel, Albert Lavignac, Émile Durand, César Franck and Jules Massenet. He succeeded Franck as organist at Sainte-Clotilde Basilica in Paris from 1890 to 1898. Pierné wrote several operas, choral and symphonic pieces as well as a good deal of chamber music. He also made a few electrical recordings for Odeon Records, from 1928 to 1934. Pierné was also known for his discovery and promotion of the work of Ernest Fanelli.
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Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (born 17 October 1962) is a French classical pianist. He grew up in Metz and started his music studies there, encountering composers including Iannis Xenakis, Olivier Messiaen, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez. Moving to the Conservatoire de Paris, he studied under Pierre Sancan, among others. Bavouzet won first prize in the Beethoven International Piano Competition in Cologne in 1986. A recording artist for Chandos, he has received several Gramophone Awards, as well as numerous other awards, including the BBC Music Magazine Award, the Choc de la Musique and the Diapason d'Or.
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Juanjo Mena (born 21 September 1965 in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country, Spain) is a Spanish conductor. He began his music studies at the Vitoria-Gasteiz Conservatory, and later attended the Madrid Royal Conservatory. He also studied conducting with Sergiu Celibidache in Munich. Mena was artistic director and principal conductor of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra (from 1999 to 2008), chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic (from 2011 to 2018), and principal conductor of the Cincinnati May Festival (from 2017 to 2023). He has commercially recorded for Naxos Records and the Chandos label.
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