Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Swedish Chamber Orchestra – Beethoven: The Piano Concertos; Quintet for Piano and Winds (2020)
3x SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 188:59 minutes | Digital Booklet | 8,6 GB
or DSD64 Stereo (from SACD-ISO to Tracks.dsf) > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | Digital Booklet | 7,45 GB
or FLAC 2.0 (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Digital Booklet | 3,42 GB
Features Stereo and Multichannel Surround Sound | Label: Chandos # CHAN 5273
Following his acclaimed recording of solo sonatas by contemporaries of Beethoven, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet releases the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos as pianist and director with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Directing the Swedish Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard, Jean-Efflam writes: ”For the pianist there is also the delight of appearing face to face with the entire orchestra, in direct visual communication, the musicians perhaps more likely to take personal initiatives, thus multiplying the pleasure of a genuine participation, dialogue, and musical exchange”. The cadenzas used in this recording are all Beethoven’s, from the set that he wrote out in 1809, and so are contemporaneous with the Fifth Concerto. The recording includes the Quintet for Piano and Winds, Op. 16.
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet emerged as a Beethoven specialist with a generally strong cycle of piano sonatas, and he shows no compunction about entering an extremely crowded field of Beethoven concerto sets with this release, recorded in 2019 and issued in September 2020. His interpretation is distinctive in several respects and succeeds in standing out from the crowd. The first is that this is a chamber-sized Beethoven. Bavouzet is not the first to record Beethoven with a chamber orchestra, although many such recordings use historical instruments, while everything here is modern. He plays the piano and conducts the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and he controls the interaction unusually well. He places the focus on his distinctive piano treatments, but he leaves room for small details like the growing importance of the winds in Beethoven’s orchestra. Bavouzet plays a lidless piano visible in photos in the booklet, and the most striking feature here is the use he makes of it. The solo entrances in the outer movements of the earlier concertos, to use a bit of contemporary parlance, really pop, and Bavouzet draws out a good deal of contrast with second subjects that feature lyrically sustained notes. The Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, has a straightforward slow movement quite unlike the stomp fests that have become routine, but again, the subtlety and rhythmic complexity of Bavouzet’s solos in the outer movements is absorbing. In the Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 (“Emperor”), Bavouzet unleashes the full ringing tone of his unusual piano, and he manages the trick of getting a really exciting, forward-moving reading of this work with a small group. With fine engineering support from a small university auditorium in Sweden, Bavouzet delivers a Beethoven concerto cycle that’s worth listeners’ investment of time and money.
Tracklist:
DISC 1:
01. Piano Concerto No.2, Op.19 in B flat major: I. Allegro con brio
02. Piano Concerto No.2, Op.19 in B flat major: II. Adagio
03. Piano Concerto No.2, Op.19 in B flat major: III. Rondo. Molto allegro
04. Piano Concerto No.1, Op.15 in C major: I. Allegro con brio
05. Piano Concerto No.1, Op.15 in C major: II. Largo
06. Piano Concerto No.1, Op.15 in C major: III. Rondo. Allegro
DISC 2:
01. Piano Concerto No.3, Op.37 in C minor: I. Allegro con brio
02. Piano Concerto No.3, Op.37 in C minor: II. Largo
03. Piano Concerto No.3, Op.37 in C minor: III. Rondo. Allegro – Presto
04. Piano Concerto No.4, Op.58 in G major: I. Allegro moderato
05. Piano Concerto No.4, Op.58 in G major: II. Andante con moto –
06. Piano Concerto No.4, Op.58 in G major: III. Rondo. Vivace – Presto
DISC 3:
01. Piano Concerto No.5, Op.73 in E flat major: I. Allegro
02. Piano Concerto No.5, Op.73 in E flat major: II. Adagio un poco mosso –
03. Piano Concerto No.5, Op.73 in E flat major: III. Rondo. Allegro
04. Grand Quintet, Op.16 in E flat major: I. Grave – Allegro, ma non troppo
05. Grand Quintet, Op.16 in E flat major: II. Andante cantabile
06. Grand Quintet, Op.16 in E flat major: III. Rondo. Allegro, ma non troppo
Personnel:
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet – piano, directed
Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Urban Svensson – leader
Karin Egardt – oboe on “Grand Quintet”
Kevin Spagnolo – clarinet on “Grand Quintet”
Mikael Lindström – bassoon on “Grand Qui
Note:
Produced & Edited by Rachel Smith. Engineered by Torbjörn Samuelsson.
Recording at Musikhögskolan, Örebro universitet, Örebro, Sweden, on November 25-30, 2018 (Concertos Nos. 2-4) and November 11-16, 2019 (other works).
SACD ISO
https://xubster.com/uktx0x510bhv/JeanEfflamBav0uzetSwedishC0Beeth0ven.ThePian0C0ncert0sGrandQuintet2020SACDIS0.part1.rar.html
https://xubster.com/9ei57boc45p5/JeanEfflamBav0uzetSwedishC0Beeth0ven.ThePian0C0ncert0sGrandQuintet2020SACDIS0.part2.rar.html
https://xubster.com/ogubbuubhuyx/JeanEfflamBav0uzetSwedishC0Beeth0ven.ThePian0C0ncert0sGrandQuintet2020SACDIS0.part3.rar.html
https://xubster.com/lmvypjvjeocv/JeanEfflamBav0uzetSwedishC0Beeth0ven.ThePian0C0ncert0sGrandQuintet2020SACDIS0.part4.rar.html
https://xubster.com/v9hstwfjch3j/JeanEfflamBav0uzetSwedishC0Beeth0ven.ThePian0C0ncert0sGrandQuintet2020SACDIS0.part5.rar.html
DSF
https://xubster.com/so3yheh7j10v/JeanEfflamBav0uzetSwedishC0Beeth0ven.ThePian0C0ncert0sGrandQuintet2020DSD64.part1.rar.html
https://xubster.com/hxkbd36q9v0y/JeanEfflamBav0uzetSwedishC0Beeth0ven.ThePian0C0ncert0sGrandQuintet2020DSD64.part2.rar.html
https://xubster.com/xzbaoiqdyj03/JeanEfflamBav0uzetSwedishC0Beeth0ven.ThePian0C0ncert0sGrandQuintet2020DSD64.part3.rar.html
https://xubster.com/ctbehz9dpcdk/JeanEfflamBav0uzetSwedishC0Beeth0ven.ThePian0C0ncert0sGrandQuintet2020DSD64.part4.rar.html
Hi-Res FLAC
https://xubster.com/7zov5i0ugxfd/JeanEfflamBav0uzetSwedishC0Beeth0ven.ThePian0C0ncert0sGrandQuintet2020FLAC2496.part1.rar.html
https://xubster.com/e6263zw9dukj/JeanEfflamBav0uzetSwedishC0Beeth0ven.ThePian0C0ncert0sGrandQuintet2020FLAC2496.part2.rar.html