Pierre Sancan: A Musical Tribute Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Adam Walker, BBC Philharmonic & Yan Pascal Tortelier

• Pierre Sancan (1916 - 2008):
• 1 Sancan: Ouverture joyeuse 05:27
• Concerto for Piano and Orchestra:
• 2 Sancan: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra: I. Modéré 15:00
• 3 Sancan: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra: II. Andante 06:12
• 4 Sancan: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra: III. Allegro vivo 07:00
• Symphonie for String Orchestra:
• 5 Sancan: Symphonie for String Orchestra: I. Allegro vivo 04:09
• 6 Sancan: Symphonie for String Orchestra: II. Andante 04:08
• 7 Sancan: Symphonie for String Orchestra: III. Final 03:04
• Commedia dell'arte Overture:
• 8 Sancan: Commedia dell'arte Overture 04:23
• Sonatine for Flute & Piano:
• 9 Sancan: Sonatine for Flute & Piano: I. Moderato 04:03
• 10 Sancan: Sonatine for Flute & Piano: II. Andante espressivo 03:29
• 11 Sancan: Sonatine for Flute & Piano: III. Anime 02:05
• Toccata for Piano:
• 12 Sancan: Toccata for Piano 03:04
• Caprice romantique for Piano Left Hand:
• 13 Sancan: Caprice romantique for Piano Left Hand 05:40
• Boîte à musique for Piano:
• 14 Sancan: Boîte à musique for Piano 01:58
• Mouvement for Piano:
• 15 Sancan: Mouvement for Piano 03:34
• Total Runtime 01:13:16

Info for Pierre Sancan: A Musical Tribute

Pierre Sancan was a tremendously influential figure in French musical life, as a composer, pianist, teacher and conductor, but remains relatively unknown outside France. Born in Mazamet in 1916 - the same year as Dutilleux - he received his early musical training in Morocco and later Toulouse. He entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1934 where he studied with Jean Gallon, conducting with Charles Munch and Roger Desormière, piano with Yves Nat, and composition with Henri Busser. He won the Prix de Rome in 1943, and eventually joined the staff in 1956, teaching there until his retirement in 1985. A list of his piano students reads like a who’s who of French pianists and includes Michel Beroff, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Daniel Varsano, Jacques Rouvier, Jean-Philippe Collard and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. Yan Pascal Tortelier, whilst not a direct student of Sancan, attended the Paris conservatoire whilst he was in post, and remembers his influence ‘of course though his extraordinary pianistic imagination but even more so by his physical allure and overwhelming personality.’ This programme of the Piano concerto, orchestral works, works for solo piano and the flute Sonatine (played by Adam Walker) serves as a personal tribute to Sancan from both pianist and conductor, and will hopefully help to raise awareness of this gifted composer.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano
Adam Walker, flute
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Yan Pascal Tortelier, conductor

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
Award-winning pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet enjoys a prolific recording and international concert career. He regularly works with orchestras such as The Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and NHK Symphony orchestras, and collaborates with conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vladimir Jurowski, Gianandrea Noseda, François-Xavier Roth, Nicholas Collon, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Edward Gardner, and Sir Andrew Davis among others.

Highlights of Bavouzet’s 2019/20 season include the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Budapest Festival Orchestra, a tour of the UK with the Iceland Symphony under Yan Pascal Tortelier and he performs all of the Beethoven piano concerti with the Orchestre National de Lyon. He will also return to Toronto and Seattle symphonies, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and embarks on a tour of Australia to include Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras.

Bavouzet will play/​direct two Beethoven programmes with both the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo. As part of the Post Classical Ensemble’s Haydn Festival in Washington DC, Bavouzet will be presented in recital and concerto and will also give recitals at the Maestro Foundation in Santa Monica and Moscow International Performing Arts Center.

Bavouzet records exclusively for Chandos and his recording of Grieg’s Piano Concerto with Bergen Philharmonic under Edward Gardner was nominated for a Gramophone Award. Ongoing cycles include a five year project to perform and record the complete Mozart Piano Concertos with the Manchester Camerata and Gábor Takács-Nagy as well as the complete Haydn Piano Sonatas. His complete Prokofiev Piano Concertos with BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Noseda won the Concerto category of the 2014 Gramophone Awards.

Adam Walker
At the forefront of a new generation of wind soloists, Adam Walker was appointed principal flute of the London Symphony Orchestra at the age of 21. In 2009 he received the Outstanding Young Artist Award at MIDEM Classique and the following year won a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award.

Adam’s repertoire interests range from exploring Baroque repertoire through to newly commissioned works. He has given world premieres of Brett Dean’s The Siduri Dances with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (2011), Kevin Puts’ Flute Concerto at the invitation of Marin Alsop at the Cabrillo Festival (2013) and Huw Watkins’ Flute Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding, commissioned jointly by the LSO and BBT (2014).

As a soloist Adam regularly performs with the major UK orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, London Symphony, Hallé, Ulster, Scottish Chamber and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Further afield he has performed with the Baltimore Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Grant Park Festival, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico, Seoul Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, Malaysian Philharmonic, Malmö Symphony, Tampere Philharmonic, Vienna Chamber, Solistes Européens, Luxembourg and the RTE National Symphony Orchestras.

A committed chamber musician with a curious and creative approach to repertoire and programming, 2018 saw the launch of Adam’s wind group, the Orsino Ensemble, at the Aldeburgh Festival. The ensemble focuses on five outstanding wind players including Nicholas Daniel, Amy Harman, Matthew Hunt and Alec Frank – Gemmill, with a mission to showcase the depth and versatility of the wind chamber repertoire. Recital highlights over recent seasons have included LSO St Luke’s, De Singel Antwerp, Musée du Louvre, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Frankfurt Alte Oper and the Utrecht, West Cork, Delft and Moritzburg Chamber Music Festivals. Adam appears regularly at the Wigmore Hall where he has recently collaborated with Brett Dean, Tabea Zimmermann, Cédric Tiberghien, Angela Hewitt, Mahan Esfahani, Ailish Tynan and Sean Shibe. 2018 saw Adam take up his place on the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s prestigious Bowers Program, which involves performing and touring with the ensemble both at Lincoln Center and across the United States for three seasons.

Current engagements include performances with the Bergen Philharmonic under Edward Gardner, Gävle Symphony Orchestra / Jessica Cottis and Tampere Philharmonic / Carlos Kalmar. Recital and chamber music projects see Adam return to the Frankfurt Alte Oper and Wigmore Hall as well as the Weesp Chamber Music Festival and the Australian Chamber Music Festival, collaborating with artists including Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Sean Shibe, Tom Poster and the Navarra Quartet.

Adam Walker’s first recital disc with Chandos will be released in spring 2021, featuring the Franck Sonata alongside works by Saint-Saëns, Duruflé and Widor with pianist James Baillieu and violist Timothy Ridout whilst Orsino releases its first CD centred around music of the French Belle Époque (Roussel, Debussy, Chaminade, Caplet, Saint Saens). Earlier recordings include “Vocalise” taking inspiration from song in works by Poulenc, Messiaen, Bartók and Schubert (Opus Arte), the Kevin Puts Flute Concerto with Marin Alsop and the Peabody Institute (Naxos) and the Huw Watkins Concerto with the Hallé and Ryan Wigglesworth (NMC).

A passionate and devoted teacher, Adam is professor of flute at the Royal College of Music, London, and Talent Music Masters, Brescia. He gives masterclasses regularly throughout the world.

Born in 1987, Adam Walker studied at Chetham’s School of Music with Gitte Sorensen and at the Royal Academy of Music with Michael Cox graduating with distinction in 2009 and winning the HRH Princess Alice Prize for exemplary studentship. He was appointed professor at the Royal College of Music in 2017.

Booklet for Pierre Sancan: A Musical Tribute