Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Claude Debussy: Complete Works for Piano, Volumes 1-5 (2007-2009) 5CD

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Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Claude Debussy: Complete Works for Piano, Volumes 1-5 (2007-2009) 5CD

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Praised for his meticulous fidelity to the composer's intentions, as well as for his rich tonal palette and the warmth of his expressions, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has won many admirers for his five albums of the complete solo piano music of Claude Debussy. These recordings were produced by Chandos between 2007 and 2009, and they have now been gathered into a handsome box set; each disc is presented with its own cardboard sleeve and the original liner notes that accompanied each release. The roster of artists who have recorded Debussy's keyboard music is a long and distinguished one, though Bavouzet is easily ranked in the upper echelons, equal in stature among such luminaries as Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Krystian Zimerman, Maurizio Pollini, Angela Hewitt, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and Pascal Rogé. Experienced listeners will already have favorite recordings of the Préludes, Images, Estampes, and Études, as well as the perennially popular Suite bergamasque, Children's Corner, and other picturesque pieces. However, many will be won over by the consistency of Bavouzet's playing, and newcomers will find that his disciplined yet gorgeous readings are a great way to begin appreciating these charming classics. Chandos provides excellent sound that gives the piano a clear presence yet takes nothing away from Bavouzet's atmospheric colors or the radiant acoustics. Highly recommended.

Blair Sanderson, Allmusic.com

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Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Claude Debussy: Complete Works for Piano, Volumes 1-5 (2007-2009) 5CD

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Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Claude Debussy: Complete Works for Piano, Volumes 1-5 (2007-2009) 5CD

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Brilliantly played, charismatically interpreted, and superbly recorded, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's disc coupling both Debussy's Books of Préludes has everything going for it. The last discovery of Georg Solti and protégé Pierre Boulez, Bavouzet has a huge technique, a variegated tone, and a commanding personality, and he plays these super virtuoso works without missing a note. Some might miss the poetry of Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir or the sensuality of La fille aux cheveux de lin, or the mystery of Canope or the whimsy of Hommage à S. Pickwick, Esq. P.P.M.P.C., but no one could complain that Ce qu'a vu le vent d'Ouest isn't breathtaking, La cathédrale engloutie isn't awe-inspiring, Les fées sont d'exquises danseuses isn't enchanting, and Feux d'artifice isn't intoxicating. With the encore of Les soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon – an ephemeral yet effecting work Debussy wrote for the charcoal dealer who kept him warm in frigid winter of 1916-1917 that came to light only in 2001 – Bavouzet's disc becomes a necessary addition to any Debussy collection aspiring to completeness. Recorded in 2006 by Ralph Couzens in Potton Hall in Dunwich, Suffolk, using a Steinway Model D owned by S.E. Foster, these performances sound fresh and sonorous.

James Leonard, Allmusic.com

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Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Claude Debussy: Complete Works for Piano, Volumes 1-5 (2007-2009) 5CD

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This second volume of Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s Debussy cycle reveals the intelligence of his programming. A trio of three-movement works is at its heart, but the disc opens and closes with two further triptychs, pseudo-cycles of contemporaneous pieces usually heard in isolation. Bavouzet’s strengths are also to the fore, with glowing colours in the opening Ballade and Valse romantique, followed by sparkling elegance in the Danse. For once the benchmark artist, Walter Gieseking (EMI), is merely brilliant rather than at his peerless best in the Estampes and Pour le piano. By contrast, his slightly detached, yet sustained touch in the ‘Sarabande’ from the latter leaves recent pianists sounding about as refined as cold porridge. Bavouzet crashes into the opening ‘Prelude’ with breathless excitement, but takes Debussy’s indication to slow down a little while easing into the main theme as a cue to slam on the brakes. It certainly grabs the attention, but Bavouzet never quite regains the adrenalin-pumping promise of the opening few bars; the momentum is dissipated, and there is little forward direction as the music bubbles upwards. Similarly, the outer movements of Estampes are exquisitely judged, but drizzle from ‘Jardins sous la pluie’ seems to have been blown into the central ‘La soirée dans Grenade…’. Noriko Ogawa (BIS) takes much longer, but her guitarists have real fire. Despite these caveats, and while Ogawa also takes the palm in the Images (oubliées), Bavouzet has numerous worthwhile insights. This cycle may yet prove to be greater than the sum of its individual parts.

Christopher Dingle, BBC Music Magazine

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Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Claude Debussy: Complete Works for Piano, Volumes 1-5 (2007-2009) 5CD

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Another winner in Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's survey of Debussy's complete piano music for Chandos, Vol. 3 brings together sentimental favorites and nearly unknown works. On the one hand, there are Clair de Lune, Réverie, and Children's Corner, on the other, the extremely early (the composer was 18) Danse bohémienne and the extremely late (the composer died three years afterwards) Élégie. Perhaps surprisingly to those who recall his brilliantly austere Images from Vol. 1 and his blazingly virtuosic Préludes from Vol. 2, Bavouzet's interpretations of the sentimental favorites are lush-toned and warmhearted, with wonderfully sustained legato and tastefully discrete use of the sustaining pedal. Unsurprisingly, however, Bavouzet is totally under the skin of Debussy's music. His Children's Corner balances wry wit with deep affection, and his La plus que lente waltz balances dry irony and profound emotion. Though there are certainly other great recordings of Debussy's piano music from Gieseking through Rogé, Bavouzet's recordings surely belong in that company. Chandos' piano sound is rich and ringing, with plenty of detail and amazing presence.

James Leonard, Allmusic.com

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Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Claude Debussy: Complete Works for Piano, Volumes 1-5 (2007-2009) 5CD

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Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's four-disc survey of Debussy's complete piano music may well be among the finest ever recorded, fit to stand with Gieseking and Rogé. Here in the fourth and final volume, Bavouzet completes his survey with both series of Images and both books of Études. The former are among the French Impressionist's most richly evocative works while the latter are among the French proto-Modernist's most recklessly virtuosic works, and Bavouzet gives every work the performance it deserves. In the Images, his nuanced tone, blended sonorities, and intense intimacy reach to the music's expressive heart. In the Études, his clear tone, brazen sonorities and astounding technique find the music's intellectual core. But whatever the music, Bavouzet is always himself. Just to take two small examples, the way he treats the accents in "Mouvement" from the First Series of Images and in the Pour les 'cinq doigts' from Book 1 of the Études is wholly his own, the former closer to détaché than staccato, the later closer to staccato than sforzando. And yet Bavouzet is always faithful to the music. No matter how fresh and natural his interpretation, his fidelity to the score is absolute. Recorded in crystalline and atmospheric digital sound, this disc concludes a series that every Debussy aficionado should pay close attention to.

James Leonard, Allmusic.com

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Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Claude Debussy: Complete Works for Piano, Volumes 1-5 (2007-2009) 5CD

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The fifth volume of Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's survey of the complete piano music of Claude Debussy is at least as fine as the previous four, and perhaps even more interesting. Throughout this series, Bavouzet has shown himself to be not only a stupendous virtuoso – nothing in the Études or the Préludes is technically beyond him – but also an exemplary Debussy pianist. He knows how to blend, balance, shade, and shadow so that the music always sounds like it is by Debussy and no other composer. In this volume, Bavouzet takes on three works rarely programmed or recorded in any form and plays them in their nearly unknown piano versions: the ballets Khamma, Jeux, and La boîte à joujoux. Though the piano versions were intended only as aids for dance rehearsal and not as a substitute for the full scores, they prove wholly persuasive in these performances. Bavouzet tosses off the most challenging passages as easily as if they were five-finger exercises, but more importantly, he makes compelling cases for these rare pieces, revealing each as a fully worthy work, something at which many conductors have failed. Though no fan of the composer should be without the orchestral versions of these scores, this disc should be of interest to anyone who loves Debussy. Chandos' digital sound is warm, deep, detailed, and colorful.

James Leonard, Allmusic.com