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D A V I D B I S M U T H
By Virginie Schaefer-Kasriel
The music fairies did not simply endow him with talent. They gave him the gift of the greatest of all luxuries: time. Time for this doctors’ son to grow, without any pressure, in the rhythm of his native Riviera. Time for several artists, one after another, to add their grain of salt: Anne Queffélec, ephemeral but decisive godmother, who sent him at age ten on the path to the Nice Conservatory; Catherine Collard, whose very last years of teaching he benefited from; andBrigitte Engerer who, just starting her career at the Paris Conservatory where he began at age 14, guided him unfailingly to his First Prizes. He had the time, after that, to avoid plowing head first into the great musical waters: at eighteen, brand-new diplomas in hand, this bright virtuoso had the maturity to recognize… his lack of maturity; before stepping out into the arena, he patiently honed his weapons under the wing of Monique Deschaussées, teacher and philosopher of the piano, direct artistic descendant of Alfred Cortot.
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©JP Raibaud
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Our very French pianist could not disavow his French lineage: with a style that is radiant and deep, combining knowledge of the architecture and poetry of color, he excels particularly in the works of our compatriots. His Franck/Fauré pairing and the not less rare Dukas/Debussy duet are seldom-trodden pathways that he has chosen; he chose to explore piano composition through works that were learnedly structured, deep, orchestral, with complex forms inherited from the Baroque period. And thus, just to counter those who would label him “made in France,” a recording of Bach transcriptions for the piano en 2009, followed by a post-romantic era return with the release in 2010 of a new recording of Saint-Saëns and Rachmaninoff.
Is David Bismuth cerebral? Not at all: simple and sincere in all things, this young thirty- something uses his everyday encounters and experiences as much as with his contact with the keyboard to nourish his music. Sharing, too, offers him enjoyment: in chamber music alongside Laurent Korcia, Marina Chiche, or the Psophos Quartet, in concert-reading with actors like Dominique Blanc or Didier Sandre, with the Corsican polyphonies of A Filetta for thematic concerts, but also in concertos with the Capitole Orchestra of Toulouse, which twice honored him with invitations.
Mozart has the place of honor in his great Parisian performance commitments: first at the Châtelet Theater with the National Orchestra of France in 2009 (Triple Concerto by Mozart with Bertrand Chamayou and Edna Stern, conducted by Andris Nelsons), then with the Orchestre de Paris in the Salle Pleyel in November 2010 for Mozart’s Double Concerto with Maria João Pires, conducted by Jean-Christophe Spinosi.
David Bismuth has shown a taste for intimate venues, where a true exchange with the audience can take place. And all that is enriched by his recent workshops in the Belgais Arts Center and his interchange with Maria João Pires, onstage and off: one more inspirational figure to his credit, whom he can thank not only for a lesson in art, but also for a great lesson in humanity.
Milestones
2010
- Debut with the Orchestre de Paris - Salle Pleyel: Mozart – Concerto for Two Pianos with Maria João Pires (J-C Spinosi, conductor)
- Saint-Saëns/Rachmaninoff CD (Ameson), **** in Classica
- Recital at La Chaise-Dieu Festival
- Performed in Chopin’s 200th anniversary at Victoria Hall in Geneva |
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2009
- Debut with the Orchestre National de France - Théâtre du Châtelet (A.Nelsons, conductor)
- Recital at La Roque d’Anthéron Festival
- B.A.C.H.ianas and Transcriptions CD (Ameson), FFFF in Télérama
- Concert in the Opéra Comique with the soloists of the Orchestre National de France
- Prokofiev CD: 2 Sonatas and Five Melodies for Violin & Piano, with Vadim Tchijik (Lyrinx), **** in Classica |
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2006
- Dukas/Debussy CD (Ameson) - cited as the Selection of France Musique, **** in Le Monde de la Musique, 9/10 in Classica-Répertoire |
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2004
- Franck/Fauré CD (Ameson)
- Cited on the «Á suivre» page in the magazine Diapason
- Performed in various festivals: Piano en Valois, Piano aux Jacobins, the International Frederic Chopin Festival, the Flâneries Musicales de Reims
- Concerts with Maria João Pires at the Radio France - Montpellier Festival and in the Menuhin Festival Gstaad |
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2003
- Performed on a recording of Berlioz (EMI Classics) with the Orchestre National du Capitole of Toulouse and tenor Rolando Villazon, conducted by Michel Plasson
- Chosen by Pianiste magazine as one of the ten most promising young French pianists of his generation |
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2002
- Met Maria João Pires
- Master classes with Richard Goode, Menahem Pressler, Elisabeth Leonskaja |
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2001
- CD and interview in Piano Magazine |
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David Bismuth is sponsored by Fondation SAFRAN pour la Musique |
