Gramophone Magazine
August 2023
Editor's Choice

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano), Adam Walker (flute), BBC Philharmonic, Yan Pascal Tortelier

Sancan: Ouverture joyeuse
Sancan: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Sancan: Symphonie for String Orchestra
Sancan: Commedia dell'arte Overture
Sancan: Sonatine for flute and piano
Sancan: Toccata
Sancan: Caprice romantique (main gauche seule)
Sancan: Boîte a Musique
Sancan: Mouvement for Piano

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.