Interpretation *****     Sound Quality ****      Repertoire ****      Booklet ****

“The CD recordings of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's piano concertos by the pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet are among the most profound to-day… As with his earlier recordings, one cannot shake the impression that Bavouzet merges with this music… Here, too, he proves to be a pianistically confident and spiritually open-minded musician. In terms of playing technique and design, there seem to be no limits for him… Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is indeed a fabulous pianist who almost always provides exciting experiences. And the Manchester Camerata under Gábor Takács-Nagy proves to be the ideal dialogue partner in everything. He and Takács-Nagy penetrate this spirit of new beginnings that is inherent in these 'youthful works'…. “

***** Coup de Cœur

2020 Most Wanted

“… Jean-Efflam Bavouzet gives us a remarkable reading [Concerto No. 9] of elegance … The different openings, French or Italian sinfonia, rarely played, add to the interest of this beautiful album by objectifying the growing mastery of the young Mozart in the treatment of the orchestra, as in the finesse of the instrumentation. A fifth volume that will not disappoint …”

Performance ****      Recording ****

“… his [Bavouzet] accounts of the four concertos in this fifth release in his ongoing series, spaciously recorded by Chandos, is replete with all his accustomed deftness, nuance and insight – though at least half the success of these readings is due to the beautifully moulded phrasing Gábor Takás-Nagy and his Manchester Camerata players bring to even Mozart’s most conventional passages …”

Recommended

“…The recordings, at the Stoller Hall, are crisp and engaging, but with power and presence to spare. These are discs to treasure, and play often.”

Classical Album of the Week

“… Bavouzet’s crisp, fortepiano-like articulation and the brilliance of the Camerata in the five overtures make these discs captivatingly fresh.”