Plein jeu: Bach & Busoni

Collard, Jean-Philippe

LDV 139

A unique achievement in Jean-Philippe Collard's discography, this piano programme devoted to Busoni's transcriptions of Bach's organ works is the result of a deep desire and represents a great accomplishment. Jean-Philippe Collard has been driven by three objectives : to immerse himself in Bach's organ music, to which he has always been attached; to reconnect this passion back to a youth nourished by the great sacred works of the Cantor ; and to pay tribute to his musician father, who instilled this culture in him and continues to inspire him today. There is also the ambition of creating an innovative project, outside of the repertoires that have established his talent, following some sixty recordings, and at the height of an artistic career that calls for a form of synthesis, not of his career, but of a family history with the piano, of which Bach seems to him to be the greatest common denominator. The accomplishment is therefore multifaceted.

Firstly, it is a sound that fully satisfies the performer, whose memories of organ works are enhanced by the breadth they acquire on the piano thanks to Busoni.

It also embodies the very idea of recording itself, to which this extraordinary pianistic material gives, more than anything else, its justification, according to Jean-Philippe Collard.

For him, it is still a matter of perfecting the pianistic gesture, through an almost physiological notion of harmony between the writing and the music that is etched into the hand.

Finally, it is the pianistic skill that this programme displays, serving the pleasure of a sound craftsman who feels that he has come full circle.

What more could one ask for, he ponders.

Borrowing from organ terminology, the expression ‘full organ’ here symbolically expresses the notion of plenitude and the magnitude of a total pianistic undertaking.

Works:

•Bach, J S: Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV532 (Transcr. for Piano by Ferruccio Busoni)
•Bach, J S: Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Major, BWV564 (Transcr. for Piano by Ferruccio Busoni)
•Bach, J S: Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV639 (Transcr. for Piano by Ferruccio Busoni)
•Bach, J S: Prelude and Fugue in E-Flat Major, BWV552 (Transcr. for Piano by Ferruccio Busoni)
•Bach, J S: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV659 (Transc. for Piano by Ferruccio Busoni)
•Bach, J S: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV565 (Transcr. for Piano by Ferruccio Busoni)

CD x 1

La Dolce Volta

1.10.2025

3760419360467