Debussy; Ravel; Massenet - Works for Piano & Orchestra (Jean-Efflam Bavouzet)

Information

Composer: Claude Debussy; Maurice Ravel; Jules Massenet

• Debussy - Fantaisie, for piano & orchestra
• Ravel - Concerto in G for piano & orchestra
• Ravel - Concerto for the Left Hand, for piano & orchestra
• Massenet - Deux Impromptus
• Massenet - Toccata
• Massenet - Deux Pièces pour piano
• Massenet - Valse folle

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Yan Pascal Tortelier, conductor

Date: 2010

Label: Chandos

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Review

This stunning and generous collection belongs right at the top of the heap in its respective repertoire. The Debussy is still a comparative rarity in concert if not on disc, a remarkable fact given that it’s wholly gorgeous from first note to last. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s excellence as a Debussy pianist already has been acknowledged by just about everyone who has heard him, and needs no further advertisement here. The performance is outstanding, sensitive to every nuance, but also very French in its clear-eyed sensibility and understanding that focused rhythm and supple tempos prevent the music from turning excessively sentimental or blandly pretty. And in Tortelier, Bavouzet has a conductor who seconds him every step of the way.

A similar sensibility informs these swift, razor-sharp, and utterly thrilling accounts of the two Ravel concertos. That for the left hand seldom has sounded so exciting, or in its jazzy central march section, so sinister. Listen to the bite that both soloist and orchestra bring to that descending scale theme, and notice the way Bavouzet shapes his cadenza so as to preserve the illusion of multiple parts played by multiple hands–all without slowing down at the tough passages. It’s really an amazing performance by any standard. Even the dark opening, often merely murky on other recordings, has shape and urgency, the buildup to the initial entry of the piano creating incredible tension.

The G major concerto probably has more lousy performances to its credit than any other major 20th century piano concerto (save perhaps Gershwin’s). Most of the time the problems start right from the solo entry in the first movement after the initial orchestral tutti, and the reason is easy to describe. This movement is in sonata form, and it has two basic tempos: “allegramente” for the opening, and “meno vivo” for the transitional material and second subject. Now obviously, “meno vivo” isn’t all that much slower, but it’s often taken at close to adagio by pianists anxious to wring “expression” out of the music at all costs. This is all the more absurd when we note that in the recapitulation, “meno vivo” briefly gives way to andante for the ethereal harp cadenza and horn solo. So Ravel’s intentions aren’t mysterious.

The best performances, then, to make a long story short, keep the tempo going with relative steadiness however much rubato and inflection happens along the way. Bavouzet gets it absolutely right, following up with one of the most songfully flowing and elegantly shaped accounts of the Adagio on disc, and concluding with an absolutely scorching finale. The Massenet encores are both novel and delightful, bringing the playing time up to a hefty 77 minutes. The SACD sonics are terrific, featuring well-nigh perfect balances and flattering the enthusiastic playing of the BBC Symphony (the real one, not the usual Philharmonic). This release is a “must” if you care about any of this music, and a first choice if you’re newly in the market.

— David Hurwitz

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Claude Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer who was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His orchestral works include Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894), Nocturnes (1897–1899), Images (1905–1912), and La mer (1903–1905). His piano works include sets of 24 Préludes and 12 Études. Throughout his career Debussy also wrote mélodies based on a wide variety of poetry, including his own. His works have strongly influenced a wide range of composers including Béla Bartók, Olivier Messiaen, George Benjamin, and the jazz musician Bill Evans.

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Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy. Born to a music-loving family, Ravel attended the Paris Conservatoire. After leaving the conservatoire, he found his own way as a composer, developing a style of great clarity and incorporating elements of modernism, baroque, neoclassicism and, in his later works, jazz. Among his works to enter the repertoire are pieces for piano, chamber music, two piano concertos, ballet music, two operas and eight song cycles.

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Jules Massenet (12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer. Born near Saint-Étienne, France, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Ambroise Thomas and won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1863. Massenet composed more than 24 operas; his most famous works include Manon, Werther and Thaïs. In addition to opera, he wrote more than 200 songs, a piano concerto, orchestral suites and oratorios. His compositions blended French romantic melodies with refined orchestration. Massenet was also highly influential as a teacher of composition at the Paris Conservatoire. Among his students were Gustave Charpentier, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn and Gabriel Pierné.

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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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