48 BACH | GOLDBERG VARIATIONS BWV 988 Geoffroy Couteau, close to Brahms and beyond… At the heart of his life as an artist stands Johannes Brahms (1833–1897), to whom he has devoted his most ambitious recording project, which has received widespread acclaim from the international press. It is a deep, almost love-like passion that began in childhood, around the age of thirteen, when he discovered the Klavierstücke, Op. 118. 'It’s thanks to Brahms that I can feel like a musician,' says Geoffroy Couteau, though he is unable to explain the reasons behind such a fascination. His relationship with the German composer is not, however, exclusive. His repertoire extends as far as contemporary creation, and Johann Sebastian Bach forms its other central pillar, even if his music long inspired in him a certain awe. He no doubt feels, in his very body, those dance movements that flow through Bach’s compositions. For the pianist has always maintained a physical relationship with music, inherited from his years of high-level training in gymnastics. 'Sport helped me through certain stages, teaching me to listen to my bodily sensations,' he explains. The piano entered his life almost by chance, before becoming, in adolescence, a self-evident calling. He trained at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris (CNSMDP) with Michel Béroff and Denis Pascal, while also benefiting from masterclasses with distinguished teachers. Another encounter marked a decisive stage in his development: that with Nicholas Angelich, with whom he refined his artistry. “Even today, there is hardly a day when I do not think of him,” he confides.
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