Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Stravinsky: Piano Concerto, Capriccio, Movements, Petrouchka (2015)

The piano wasn't as central to Igor Stravinsky's output as it was for some of his contemporaries, such as Béla Bartók or Sergey Prokofiev, yet he featured it in three major works, the Concerto for piano & wind instruments, the Capriccio for piano and orchestra, and the Movements for piano and orchestra, dating from his middle and late periods. Yet even in the early ballet Petrouchka, the piano was used as a prominent instrument in the orchestra, so while it might seem that Stravinsky was not preoccupied with it, the piano was indispensable to him, and he found inventive uses for its brilliant sonorities. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet joins Yan Pascal Tortelier and the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra as soloist in the first three works, and plays the piano in the orchestra in Petrouchka, demonstrating that where one sits is no indicator of importance. Indeed, since this album is a multichannel audiophile recording, so where anyone sits is relative to the sound profile, not the seating arrangement, and Bavouzet sounds as clear and fully present as if he were playing in front of the orchestra. Chandos' recording also gives the orchestra a chance to shine, and in all four works, the details of all the parts are crisp and carefully delineated.