Jean-Efflam Bavouzet

Maurice Ravel delivered one of the highlights of 20th-century piano music with 'Gaspard de la Nuit'. Of Bavouzet's interpretation of this work, The Washington Post wrote: “His performance is warm and poetic when played with restraint, piercing and prosaic when played with force.” We also hear Beethoven's pastoral sonata, which honors the call of the quail. Prokofiev's first of three war sonatas breaks with romantic ideals to express the destructive urges of the 20th century. Bavouzet started playing the piano at a very young age and also took lessons in percussion and oboe. He studied at the Paris Conservatory and won the international Beethoven-Tommasoni competition in Cologne in 1986. Bavouzet owes its success and recognition not only to its curriculum, but also to its style. He feels every shade in the music he plays perfectly, and plays with a virtuoso flair and inspired spontaneity.