Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's 2019-20 Season Includes Bartók, Beethoven, Mozart, Ravel, and More

A schedule rich in variety and landmark recording projects is central to Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's 2019-20 season. The French pianist's chosen repertoire spans everything from the concertos of Bartók, Beethoven and Ravel to sonatas by Haydn and rarities by Debussy. Highlights include an extensive UK tour of Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra (8-15 February 2020); a complete cycle of Beethoven's piano concertos with the Orchestre National de Lyon (19 & 21 March, 11 & 13 June); Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (14 February) and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (8 June); and Debussy's Fantaisie with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (28 & 29 February).

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's long relationship with Chandos Records is set to grow further over the coming season. He will record Beethoven's five piano concertos in November, directing the Swedish Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard, for a release due out in Autumn 2020, continue his series of Haydn's complete piano sonatas, and explore works by Beethoven's contemporaries. March sees the international release of the fifth volume of his critically acclaimed cycle of Mozart's piano concertos. The new album, recorded like its predecessors with the Manchester Camerata and Gabor Takács-Nagy, unites works from the composer's late teens, the Piano Concertos Nos. 5, 6, 8 & 9 'Jeunehomme', with the Overtures to Il re pastore and Zaide.

"I'm totally blessed to record for Chandos," declares Bavouzet. "Our Mozart series shows the operatic style of his concertos by pairing them with the opera overtures he wrote at the time. This new album contains the so-called 'Jeunehomme', which we now know was dedicated to Victoire Jenamy, the daughter of a famous dancer who was one of Mozart's a friends. So I make a point of it being called the 'Jenamy' Concerto!"

Chandos offers Jean-Efflam Bavouzet the freedom to explore neglected compositions and great landmarks of the piano repertoire. He speaks with passion about his Haydn piano sonata series for the label. The cycle, which reached its eighth release in April, has harvested a heavy crop of five-star reviews since its launch in 2010. "I really don't want it to finish," he comments. "I've been living with this music for many years and know that it is nourishing my life. There are two things I fear: the dentist and the very last session of these Haydn recordings!"

Among the tributes to Beethoven in the 250th anniversary of his birth, Bavouzet will record an album comprising works by the composer's contemporaries, to be released in summer 2020. "I intended to make just one disc but realised there were so many incredible gems from that period," he observes. "We take the masterworks of the great masters too much for granted, and forget what makes them stand out in comparison to wonderful music written at the same time. You hear these very fine pieces, then listen to Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn with even greater pleasure because you realise that their masterpieces grow from such rich ground. This December I will record an album of four sonatas including one by Joseph Wölfl, a composer I'd never heard of until beginning this project. He studied in Salzburg with Leopold Mozart and Michael Haydn, made his name in Vienna as a rival performer to Beethoven and wrote thirty piano sonatas. I've picked what I think is Wölfl's best sonata and will combine it with other equally strong works."

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's 2019-20 season also includes revelatory Bartók interpretations: he will perform the Hungarian composer's Piano Concerto No.3 with the Orchestre National de France and Tomáš Netopil (16 October), the Ulster Orchestra and Tito Muñoz (29 November), and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice and György G. Ráth (6 & 7 December). "I have the self-proclaimed title of being the most Hungarophile of French musicians," says Bavouzet. "I have shared life with my Hungarian wife for thirty-seven years; I have two daughters who are absolutely fluent in Hungarian; and, from a musical point of view, I have worked with and been inspired by so many great Hungarian artists, starting by playing piano duets with Zoltán Kocsis, which marked a radical change in my approach, a point of no return, continuing with György Sándor at the Paris Conservatoire, and receiving the greatest impact on my career from Sir Georg Solti in the last years of his life."

Bavouzet's commitment to the music of France flows through his 2019-20 season. He will join the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Yan-Pascal Tortelier for an extensive UK tour with Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. Their itinerary opens at Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall (8 February 2020), and unfolds with dates at the Theatre Royal, Norwich (9 February), Birmingham Symphony Hall (11 February), St David's Hall, Cardiff (13 February), and Leeds Town Hall (15 February). His schedule also includes Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Emanuel Krivine at London's Royal Festival Hall (14 February) and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and Alexander Liebreich (8 June).

The pianist's selection of French repertoire extends to Debussy's delightful Fantaisie with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Sir Roger Norrington (28 & 29 February). The rarely played work was completed in 1889 but not performed until 1919, the year after the composer's death. "I have a soft spot for this piece," observes Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. "Debussy was under Wagner's shadow in the period he wrote the Fantaisie; unlike so many of his contemporaries, he managed to escape from it. He was trying to find new things to say and it was Erik Satie who helped him find them. There are some radical 'swing' rhythms in this piece, for example, years before the invention of jazz. Everybody thinks that Debussy didn't like the piece because he wouldn't allow it to be performed. But why, if he didn't like it, did he revise it twice? Debussy declined the work's planned premiere when he was told there was only room in the concert for its first movement. That's why, in my opinion, he withdrew the piece: Debussy was extremely proud of the complete composition and knew that it only made sense when performed as a whole."

Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven stand among the pillars of Bavouzet's season. He begins the Beethoven anniversary year with the composer's 'Emperor' Concerto with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and Maxim Emelyanychev (9, 10 & 11 January), before offering a cycle of the five piano concertos with the Orchestre National de Lyon under Christian Reif and Nicholas Collon (19 & 21 March, 11 & 13 June). His tour to Australia will include Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.4, given with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Kirill Karabits (15, 16, 17 & 18 April) and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Benjamin Northey (1, 2 & 4 May), together with Mozart's Piano Concerto No.9 K271 'Jeunehomme' with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Ben Gernon (23 & 24 April).

Haydn's Piano Concerto in D major Hob.XVIII/11 and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.4 occupy Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's programme with I Musici de Montréal and Jean-Marie Zeitouni on 21 May. A selection of Haydn sonatas holds the spotlight for his recital in the Grand Choir of Washington's National Cathedral as part of Post Classical's Haydn Festival on 27 May, before he joins the Post Classical Ensemble and Angel Gil-Ordóñez in the cathedral's Great Nave for Haydn's Piano Concerto in D major on 30 May.

"I love to perform Beethoven and Mozart concertos with so many tremendous artists," reflects Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. "In Lyon I will work with the fantastic young talent, Christian Reif, who I'm sure will go very far in his career, and my friend Nicholas Collon. It's also satisfying to direct these works from the piano. You gain this direct rapport with the players, who have to be so alert, creative and responsible. As with any great chamber music-making, there is a kind of osmosis of sound and phrasing. I'm looking forward to exploring the Beethoven concertos with these wonderful conductors and from the keyboard as part of the Beethoven anniversary."

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