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Pierre-Philippe Bauzin conducting in concert

Pierre-Philippe Bauzin

1933 – 2005

Composer, pianist, organist, improviser and conductor, Pierre-Philippe Bauzin was born in Saint-Émilion in 1933 and died in Nice in 2005. He left some one hundred and ten works, ranging from choral music to orchestral writing.

A child of the organ

A child of the organ

Born in Saint-Émilion on 12 April 1933, he began the piano with his father at the age of five, the organ at ten and harmony at eleven. At twelve, he won by competition the post of titular organist of the great organ of the church of Saint-Pierre in Bordeaux, an instrument with three manuals and fifty-four stops.

At fourteen, he was awarded a first prize in piano at the Bordeaux Conservatoire, with Chopin’s Funeral March Sonata, together with a first prize in harmony. Three months later he entered the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris, where he would win several prizes. At sixteen, he became titular organist of the great organ of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes in Chaville and conducted his first choir.

In Paris, he was pianist of the Conservatoire’s cadet orchestra and pianist for Serge Lifar’s ballets; he conducted the Amici musicali de Paris orchestra, with which he presented the Midday Concerts at the Institut d’art et d’archéologie, and, between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-three, served as assistant chorus master at the Théâtre national de l’Opéra-Comique.

Pierre-Philippe Bauzin in the organ loft

His teachers

The man behind the microphone

At twenty-two, having qualified as a sound engineer at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, he joined the ORTF by competitive examination as a music producer. For twenty years he recorded the greatest names: Samson François, David and Igor Oistrakh, Gabriel Bacquier, Maurice André, Narciso Yepes, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Jean Françaix, Georges Cziffra.

In Nice, he recorded Mstislav Rostropovich’s first public concert in France. He took part in the premiere of Paul Tortelier’s double concerto for two cellos and, at the Vence Festival, recorded the Radio orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski, then ninety-one years old. His recordings earned him several Grands Prix du disque, notably for Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7 played by Sviatoslav Richter and for Jean Françaix’s Clarinet Concerto.

Pierre-Philippe Bauzin at the piano

The pianist

A sought-after accompanist, he was the pianist of Jean Giraudeau, Mady Mesplé, Andréa Guiot, Tony Poncet and Charles Burles. He accompanied the saxophonist Jean-Marie Londeix on many tours; together they premiered the sonata for saxophone and piano that he had dedicated to him.

He gave recitals in France, Belgium and Germany, played in a two-piano partnership with Magda Brard, notably at the Opéra de Nice in 1977, and also performed far from the classical repertoire: he stood in for the pianist of the Modern Jazz Quartet and played with Dizzy Gillespie at the Vence Festival.

The organist and improviser

It was as an organist that he travelled most widely. Lifelong guest organist of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, where he was congratulated several times by Pope John Paul II, he inaugurated the new organs of San Luigi dei Francesi on 13 May 1977. He was titular organist of the church of Le Suquet in Cannes and taught at the conservatoires of Cannes and Grasse.

A renowned improviser, he gave recitals throughout Europe and in the United States: in Leipzig on Bach’s two organs, at St Thomas and St Nicholas; in Lübeck on Buxtehude’s organ; at St. Florian on Bruckner’s; in Salzburg Cathedral on the organ played by Mozart; in Passau; in Budapest for the centenary of Liszt’s death; and in New York at St Patrick’s Cathedral. In the 1990s, he gave master classes in improvisation at the Juilliard School in New York.

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The conductor

He conducted in Spain, in Málaga, Bilbao and Barcelona; in Italy, in Florence, Venice and Rome, where he performed Mozart’s Requiem at Sant’Ignazio; in Germany, with the Munich Philharmonic and the Telemann Chamber Orchestra of Berlin; and in Poland, in Opole and Kraków. In France, he conducted the Amici musicali de Paris orchestra and the Orchestre régional Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

Pierre-Philippe Bauzin conducting in concert

The composer

His catalogue comprises some one hundred and ten works: thirty-five choral pieces, songs, a first symphony for orchestra, concertos, a trio for violin, cello and piano premiered in Washington in 1969, a sonata for violin and piano, the oratorio L’Apocalypse de saint Jean, premiered at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and many pieces for saxophone and for organ.

Several awards mark this career: the Grand Prix of the René Doire Foundation for the concerto for trumpet, piano and orchestra; a medal at the Saint Cecilia International Competition in Rome for the first symphony; the Grand Prix of the SACEM for his symphony for grand organ; and, in 1976, the Grand Prix of the Barcelona International Composition Competition for Don Quijote de la Mancha, which he conducted at the city’s Palace of Sports before ten thousand listeners, with two thousand five hundred choristers from all over the world and the Barcelona Philharmonic Orchestra.

Pierre-Philippe Bauzin died in Nice on 11 January 2005.

Works to discover

Milestones

  1. 1933Born in Saint-Émilion on 12 April.
  2. 1945Titular organist of the great organ of Saint-Pierre in Bordeaux, at the age of twelve.
  3. 1947First prizes in piano and harmony in Bordeaux; enters the Paris Conservatoire.
  4. 1955Sound engineer; joins the ORTF as a radio producer, for twenty years.
  5. 1969Premiere of the trio for violin, cello and piano in Washington.
  6. 1976Barcelona Grand Prix for Don Quijote de la Mancha.
  7. 1977Inauguration of the organs of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome; two-piano recital at the Opéra de Nice.
  8. 1986Budapest and Szeged, centenary of Liszt’s death.
  9. 1988Conducts the Telemann Chamber Orchestra in Berlin.
  10. 1996Salzburg Festival.
  11. 2005Dies in Nice on 11 January.

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