Name: Plein Jeu
SKU: LDV139
Price: 20.00 EUR
Availability: InStock

1 CD | LDV139 | total duration: 68’29 | release date:

Plein Jeu

20,00 €

A leading figure of French piano, Jean-Philippe Collard has graced the world’s stages with rare elegance and unwavering dedication, from the Romantic repertoire to the subtleties of French music. A profoundly human interpreter, he combines the rigor of a craftsman with the inspiration of a poet, driven by a quest for inner beauty and sonic authenticity.

With Plein Jeu, he pays a vibrant tribute to Johann Sebastian Bach through the powerful and visionary transcriptions of Ferruccio Busoni. This repertoire, at the crossroads of organ and piano traditions, becomes in his hands a space of spiritual resonance and luminous contemplation.

Conceived as both an artistic and emotional testament, this album is also a personal gesture, dedicated to the memory of a musician father and the sonic legacy of a lifetime. For Jean-Philippe Collard, it is a way of closing his discographic journey with a work of commanding intensity, where each note seems to express the essential.

A final recording as an act of faith in music, its silences and its colors. Profound, free, essential.

Bach, Busoni, Jean-Philippe Collard, Piano

Booklet

Description

From the sacred vaults of the organ to the intimate resonances of the piano, Jean-Philippe Collard opens a vibrant dialogue in this album between spiritual heritage and modern pianistic expression.

Through Ferruccio Busoni’s masterful transcriptions, the works of Bach take on a new incarnation—both faithful and bold. The pianist unfolds a palette of exceptional richness, bringing each contrapuntal line to life with luminous clarity.

From the solemnity of the chorale Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ to the dazzling momentum of the famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor, each piece becomes a space for contemplation and virtuosity, interpreted with both precision and freedom.

With Plein Jeu, Jean-Philippe Collard offers a deeply personal tribute to Bach, to his musician father, and to a sound culture nurtured from childhood. A pinnacle of artistic maturity, where the modernity of the piano embraces the spirituality of the organ to reach the very heart of emotion.

Plein Jeu

J.S. Bach / F. Busoni – Prélude et Fugue en Ré majeur, BWV 532 : Präludium – Moderato / Fuga – Allegro moderato 13’30
J.S. Bach / F. Busoni – Toccata, Adagio et Fugue en Ut majeur, BWV 564 : Preludio / Intermezzo – Adagio / Fuga 19’01
J.S. Bach / F. Busoni – Choral “Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ”, BWV 639 3’40
J.S. Bach / F. Busoni – Prélude et Fugue en Mi bémol majeur, BWV 552 : Präludium – Moderato maestoso / Fuga – Allegro risoluto 17’33
J.S. Bach / F. Busoni – Choral “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland”, BWV 659 5’01
J.S. Bach / F. Busoni – Toccata et Fugue en Ré mineur, BWV 565 : Adagio – Prestissimo / Fuga – Allegro sostenuto 9’40

Jean-Philippe Collard

Jean-Philippe Collard steps onto the stage as one enters into music: with modesty, precision, and understated elegance. Every gesture, measured and composed, already seems to carry the echo of the notes to come. Even before the first chord is played, a dialogue begins — a silent exchange of glances and listening, a mutual attentiveness between artist and audience.

This apparent simplicity conceals the tension of the hours before, the calm built on a knife’s edge, the mastered body, the clarified mind. For Collard, it is about “being drawn into the music” to rediscover the spontaneity needed for communion with the audience. Playing then becomes an essential act of sharing — not demonstrative, but sincere, almost vital. An offering without expectation, nurtured by decades of concerts and over sixty recordings.

Far from cerebral interpretations, the performer claims a sensitive approach: “You must touch the heart, without over-intellectualizing.” From Chopin to Rachmaninov, through Schumann, Fauré, and Saint-Saëns, he explores the vast landscapes of Romanticism and two centuries of French music, guided by a constant quest for beauty and inner truth.

For Jean-Philippe Collard, sound is color, nuance, living matter. “Hungry for colors,” he sculpts his sonic landscapes with the delicacy of a connoisseur. Chords stretch like shifting light, arpeggios shimmer with subtle reflections, and each tone seems to breathe. From Pierre Sancan to Vladimir Horowitz, from the world’s great stages to major orchestral collaborations, Collard has built a universe in his own image: refined, vibrant, and profoundly human.

A continuous tribute to his masters — the composers — and to this art of sonic color, which has become second nature to him.