Search - Chamayou :: Mendelssohn Piano Music: Bertrand Chamayou

Pianism of the Highest Order

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 07/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In his insightful booklet notes, Bertrand Chamayou writes, 'It may seem astonishing that the vast majority of pianists so seldom frequent the works of Mendelssohn.' This is true, but this recording by Chamayou does much to convey how lovely and even important Mendelssohn's piano works are. Chamayou goes on, '...the real burden he has to bear seems to be the fact that he belongs to the generation of 1810; when placed alongside his colleagues Schumann, Liszt and Chopin, he "creates a slightly schoolmasterly impression", as he once perceptively wrote to his mother in his account of meeting Chopin.' I will admit that I, too, have had somewhat that impression of Mendelssohn's music, with a few exceptions, but on listening to this CD of a selection of some of his lesser-known as well as some thrice familiar works, I came away with an impression that Mendelssohn is worth a re-examination, at least by me. This is, of course, at least partly a function of Chamayou's extraordinary talent at the keyboard. The music sounds natural and spontaneous, even when Mendelssohn's vaunted craft is much in evidence. Chamayou's touch is variously delicate, even elfin in such things as Rachmaninoff's transcription of the Overture to 'Midsummer Night's Dream' or the Scherzo in E Minor from the 'Three Fantasies and Caprices' Op. 16, but he is capable of getting deep in the keys in things like the 'Variations serieuses' or the deliciously lyrical Liszt transcription of Mendelssohn's lied 'Suleika' or the first cut on the CD, the B Minor Prelude, Op. 104a, No. 2 whose torrents of sound are electrifying. Throughout one is aware that Chamayou is not playing these works as virtuosic showpieces but as deeply felt musical utterances. I am smitten by his playing and am eager to hear more of it.



As far as I know this is the only CD of Chamayou available in the US. There is little biographical information available about him, even on the Internet. He is young, from his picture looking to be in his twenties, and was born in Toulouse and studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Jean-François Heisser and in London with Maria Curcio. He had some study with Murray Perahia (whose sound is similar to his). He is known primarily in France, where he is reported to have played Liszt's 'Transcendental Etudes' more than forty times in recital. That cycle has been recorded, reportedly, but I found no evidence of it on American online sites. It is reported that he will play Messiaen's 'Vingt regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus' a number of times this year (2008); one hopes a recording will follow.



A word of praise to the recording team who have provided a marvelously lifelike sound for Chamayou's well-regulated piano.



Strongest recommendation for piano music lovers.



Scott Morrison

"

Bertrand Chamayou: Mendelssohn Piano Music-Selections: A sle

Dan Fee | Berkeley, CA USA | 05/29/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Let's start with fair disclosure: On an ordinary, average day, I find that I can take or leave most of the solo piano music written by famous composer Felix Mendelssohn. I've been a rabid fan of the violin concerto, the two piano concertos, and of course the Midsummer Nights Dream incidental music, as well as at least a few of the five extant symphonies. I'm also rather delighted by the youthful string symphonies. Plus the oratorios, so beloved of British-UK choirs once upon a choral time.



Then I came across this remarkable young French pianist, Bertrand Chamayou. My first exposure to him was the French Sony recording, Liszt Transcendental Etudes (Complete). Okay, wow, wow, wow. He has the virtuoso fluency in this fiercely difficult keyboard cycle to concentrate, utterly, on the Liszt piano challenge - as music. That is not to say that he struggles at all with the integrated, showy display aspects of these twelve capital pieces; but that he has managed to live so deeply into the octaves, trills, roulades, runs and such that he digs deep into the less overt bel canto drama and color of the etudes as essential music. Sadly that disc is still not yet distributed very widely in the USA, not even by Amazon, so I ordered it from French Amazon.



Then, I discovered that this Mendelssohn is being distributed. Could this remarkable young keyboard talent finally convince me in solo Mendelssohn piano music? Cut to the chase - yes. Yes, indeed.



Something like the consistent musicianship and affection and abandon that Chamayou lets loose to run wild and long and hard and deep in the difficult Liszt cycle also serves a selection of Mendelssohn piano works very well. Part of this appeal must still be the daring physical appeal - a type of musical sensuality, if you will, as listener - that is basic to Chamayou's fundamental piano technique. The physicality and finesse that Chamayou brings to all his playing helps awaken a listener to these Mendelssohn piano pieces as hidden treasure. All traces of piano drawing room music, grasping to be more than it typically is in amateur hands (private residences, private social audiences), are utterly and happily banished.



The sheer ease with which the composer sounds like he could write - even if that wasn't literally the case - is backed up and deepened and set dazzling - by Chamayou's similar sounding breadth of easefulness. He seems so entirely at ease with the modern grand piano that considerations of struggle and mastery fade like true black into the background of his color palette.



What remains in these selections are: affection, tons of tonal color, and - as Mendelssohn's collection of pieces called Songs Without Words suggests - song, song, song.



Rather than try to typify or characterize any one of the pieces Chamayou has selected, I am going to be street smart for once - just telling you to get this disc, and meet this amazing young piano artist.



So far as piano virtuosos go, players who reach deep for the musical values in the extant keyboard literature, this Chamayou is definitely a Real Deal of a Player. He hails from Toulouse, trained at the Paris Conservatoire, then mentored with the likes of Maria Curcio, Murray Perahia, Leon Fleisher. Oh yes, and he was a prize winner in the distinguished Margaritte Long-Jacque Thibaud competition.



Try to get his Liszt Etudes cycle, too, if you can find it. Also, note that a disc of Cesar Franck has been released by (French label) Naïve .... featuring a rising star young French conductor who now works with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Stephane Deneuve. Denueve's cycle of Roussel symphonies with the RSNO on Naxos has won discerning praise for good musical reasons. If he contributes anything similar to the Cesar Franck, and ditto for Chamayou - then that release will also be a keeper and a piano treat.



So far, Chamayou has barely seemed to put a musical piano foot, wrong. He ought to be hyped like some of the young piano stars - nameless here, but who may or may not deliver on any given occasion.



Five Mendelssohn stars, five piano stars, five stars for the vital nature of the French piano school. Chamayou belongs up high, in the good musical company of other rising French musical stars - Alexander Tharaud and Francoise-Frederic Guy come to mind."