“…For this listener he [Bavouzet] certainly captures the composer’s spirit in his performances of the four works on this admirable disc…” ****½

Recommended - Recording of the Month

“…Bavouzet’s new disc is almost self-recommending, directing as it does a beam of light into corners of Schumann’s very particular oeuvre which are too seldom explored by the other piano big-hitters of today. There is no ‘Vol 1’ on the cover to indicate a Schumann series, but one earnestly hopes that this is not the last we hear of Bavouzet’s engagement with this repertoire. As with virtually everything he records, a tangible spirit of curiosity and adventure pervades the entire disc.”

**** (Excellent Album)

Performance *****          Recording *****

“… It is the tantalising duality between spontaneous excitement and ensuring a strong sense of musical continuity that is perhaps the greatest challenge for the Schumann interpreter, and which Jean-Efflam Bavouzet synthesizes so memorably in this outstanding recital. Bavouzet establishes his credentials immediately with a gripping account of Horowitz’s ‘edition’ of the Third Sonata … His [Bavouzet] masterly reading of Faschingsschwank aus Wien similarly fuses flair and fantasy with a poetic gravitas …”

“Steering clear of more obvious repertory choices, this collection mixes big-boned and intimate Schumann. .. Bavouzet identifies with the music intensely … Bavouzet's Faschingsschwank aus Wien is robust …  With so much adrenalin and changing emotional theatre, so many fingers in swirling, dazzling races to the finish, the two late cycles, lyrically pointed, benefit from tender, discerningly judged balancing… The final bar of the last of the rarely-heard Gesänge der Frühe (Songs of Dawn) is one of elevated artistry …” ****

“…Ever a supremely intelligent musician, Bavouzet brings clarity, gentleness and urgency to all, with a sense of distilled struggle in the five Gesänge der Frühe (Songs at Dawn).”

“For his first-ever Schumann recital, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has put together an intriguing programme, one in which he by no means follows obvious routes or makes life easy for himself. He begins with the Op. 14 Sonata … It’s all too easy for the sonata to sound so extreme that it becomes bitty, but Bavouzet gives it an overall sweep that is absolutely engaging… the finale is a masterclass in precision and clarity, even at speed, its more lyrical writing brought fully alive …”