Louis-Victor Bak

Press

Press

“…To end the first half of the concert the audience was treated to two of the six Concert Studies written in the 1880s by the female composer, Cecile Chaminade: No. 5 ‘Impromptu’ and No.4 ‘Appassionato’. Louis-Victor has become a champion of Chaminade’s music, and these two examples of music which concentrates on particular aspects of pianistic technique show why he is to be encouraged to continue to do so. The flowing melodies and charming pirouettes which soar about the flowing accompaniment in the Impromptu, along with the need for firm wrists and flexible fingers to cope with the demands of the Appassionato, make rich artistic sense as well as calling for the highest degree of technical accomplishment…”

Graham Marshall – Rochdale Music Society’s concert review 21/09/2025 : Debussy, Chopin, Berg, Chaminade / Ravel, Dutilleux

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“We had two sharp pianists with Louis-Victor Bak and Firoze Madon, talents who held these frank pieces as concentrated support for the singers. “

James Ellis – Wigmore Hall concert review 20/06/2025 : Secrets & Desire – The Life & Songs of Mel Bonis

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“The delicacy of his playing was spellbinding, that and a blend of perfect precision coupled with lightness , which made this performance a memorable one. The audience at the Wingham International Concert Series felt lucky to have been there.”
Laura Plumptre – Wingham International Concert Series 05/05/2025 : Debussy, Chaminade / Ravel, Dutilleux
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“…Louis-Victor Bak’s debut album is a fine example of his talent. He also pays a fine tribute to French piano music of the early modern period. We can’t wait to hear the next CDs from this promising young pianist.”

Pierre-Jean Schoen – Utmisol 22/04/2025 : Recording Debussy/Chaminade

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“Louis Viktor Bak arrives at St Nicholas to give a performance of the two composers featured on his first disc: Debussy and his close slightly older contemporary Chaminade.

As the final pages romp home we feel secure in the hands of a young master pianist with enormous surging power in his precision, and limitless depth of tome and interpretive fathom.”

Simon Jenner – St Nicolas’ Brighton 09/04/2025 : Debussy, Chaminade

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“This is Louis-Victor-Bak’s first recording. It’s a distinguished debut, for Bak is a powerful presence at the piano; sensitive, subtle and shapely, too, creating glowing timbres from his instrument, faithfully captured by engineer Paul Baily. Debussy is represented by the two sets of Images – six pieces in total – atmospheric and suggestive music that Bak reveals with fine artistry, graded quiet playing, opulent fortissimos, and fluid phrasing. There’s no lack of dexterity – and with it clarity – in quicker numbers. The C-minor Sonata by Cécile Chaminade is a worthy coupling, impassioned music (reminding of Rachmaninov) that flirts with the Baroque and is not without songful charm. Bak’s recital – Indesens IC052 – closes with a Chaminade Study that keeps his ten digits busy while being musically attractive. I look forward to hearing more of Bak’s playing.”

Collin Anderson – Collin’s Column 30/12/2024 : Recording Debussy/Chaminade

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“Bak’s Debussy may not be my first choice but there is still a lot to recommend it and he seems right at home in Chaminade’s music. The sound is first rate and despite the booklet photo which shows him sitting at a Pleyel he plays a Steinway which sounds wonderful. All in all, a very decent debut disc.”
Rob Challinor – Music Web International 12/12/2024 : Recording Debussy/Chaminade
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“In this period of discovery of the great forgotten female composers, Louis-Victor Bak makes his contribution to the edifice. Where Debussy gently but surely led French music towards modernism, Cécile Chaminade takes us back to the great classical tradition. The listener will undoubtedly enjoy the tender, melancholy Andante from the piano sonata. Bak’s fingers glide smoothly, with poignant passion, like a declaration of love… wrapped in a funeral march. Nothing to do with the short, vibrant Allegro, demanding unstoppable virtuosity and technique from the pianist. The album closes with a final piece by Cécile Chaminade, an Impromptu from her Six Études de concert, Op. 35. Here we are again in the post-romantic vein, delicate and unostentatious.
Another fine discovery by a pianist who has cleverly opted for a program combining classics by an artist who is often played and a composer who deserves to be discovered.”

Bruno Chiron – Bla Bla Blog 08/11/2024 : Recording Debussy/Chaminade

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“…I doubt the Goldfish has ever bathed in such sumptuous sound as it flitted around reaching out with a very french elegance within an atmosphere of decadence too.
Chaminade’s much neglected Sonata received a masterly performance of persuasive advocacy.
In fact whereas Bak’s Debussy had been exemplary for it’s intellectual and musical understanding, Chaminade unleashed in Bak a pianist possessed as he moved with so much more freedom allowing the outpouring of Romantic sounds to overcome any intellectual restraint.”

Christopher Axworthy – Royal Albert Hall 03/11/2024 : Debussy, Chaminade

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“…In his turn, the young musician currently based in London becomes an ambassador for the French repertoire, bringing out a certain romantic virtuosity directly inspired by Liszt and Chopin in Cécile Chaminade and a skillfully controlled harmonic suggestion in Debussy.”
Bénédicte Palaux-Simonnet – Crescendo Magazine 06/10/2024 : Recording Debussy/Chaminade
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“Nicknamed “my little Mozart” by Bizet, admired by Chabrier and Saint-Saëns, Cécile Chaminade is often thought of as a Salonnard composer who only embroidered pretty trinkets. However, her extensive and diverse catalog is full of pleasant surprises. Her piano sonata, dedicated in 1895 to her brother-in-law Moritz Moszkowski, is not the work of a one-armed woman! An impetuous Allegro appassionato precedes a beautifully expressive Andante, then a concluding Allegro whose flamboyance puts the fingers to the test. More ardent than Johann Blanchard (MDG), LouisVictor Bak – in his first recording – also outshines Peter Jacobs (Hyperion) in the slow movement, to which he imbues more fervor. Trained by Edna Stern in London, the newcomer then gives the fifth of the Concert Etudes Op. 35 (1886) all its capricious whimsy. The sound recording is too reverberant, contributing to the lack of transparency in Debussy’s Reflets dans l’eau. The Cloches à travers les feuilles would also benefit from a wider dynamic spectrum, but captivate with their extensive color palette and exhilarating sensuality. Here’s a sound that really speaks ! In a very fast tempo, dotted with flashes of lightning, Mouvement is performed with tremendous energy: the middle passage rumbles and fulminates. In Et la Lune descend sur le temple qui fut, Bak achieves the most difficult of tasks: making the invisible visible. A young artist to watch closely”

Bertrand Boissard – Diapason Magazine October 2024 : Recording Debussy/Chaminade

“The program is quite short, but it does have the good idea of bringing together Debussy and Chaminade, who were almost contemporaries (Claude was five years younger than Cécile) but aesthetically very different. Chaminade is a good example of late Romanticism, which was in the minority in the French musical landscape, while Debussy explored new and promising avenues with his Images. This is not to say that Cécile Chaminade was a has-been in her day, but that she continued the Schumannesque tradition with real talent, notably in her inspired and virtuosic Sonata of 1895, but also in the beautiful Impromptu, which is perhaps even more personal in tone. LouisVictor Bak delivers a highly disciplined interpretation, emphasizing the fundamental classicism and clarity of the discourse. Debussy’s Images, in which Louis-Victor Bak reveals his own personal voice, need no introduction. Here again, he seems more concerned with making clear the content of the texts than with painting landscapes. Never mind the Reflets, the Cloches and other impressionistic visions, the scores are approached with a sober, meticulous distance that leaves no detail in the shade. Louis-Victor Bak is currently enjoying a successful career in Great Britain. May this disc make him better known in his own country”

Jacques Bonnaure – Classica Magazine October 2024 : Recording Debussy/Chaminade

“Louis-Victor Bak is a young French pianist who lives across the Channel and cleverly says: ‘I moved to London five years ago and, in a strange way, I’ve never felt as connected to my French roots and culture as I have since I left.’ It’s a classic phenomenon, at heart. We are delighted about it, not because of any chauvinism, which is not our style, but because it has given rise to a very fine recording, ‘Debussy et Chaminade’, by Louis-Victor Bak, published by the IndesensCalliope label, which is out today.”

Frederick Casadesus – Le Club de Mediapart 25/09/2024 : Recording Debussy/Chaminade

Full review
“Louis-Viktor Bak plays Berg’s Piano Sonata Op 1, Haydn’s Piano Sonata HB XVI/46 in A flat and Debussy’s First Book of Images.

Bak is a multiple-prize-winning French pianist who also graduated from the Royal College of Music in 2023. Still in his earlier 20s, Bak’s keen to ruffle the way we listen to recitals and made a bold choice not only with repertoire but with programming sequence.

An exceptionally distinguished recital. We’re lucky to have Louis-Viktor Bak, and the Petroff piano might just tempt him – and others – to return.”

Simon Jenner – St Nicolas’ Brighton 06/03/2024 : Berg, Haydn, Debussy

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“All of Louis-Victor’s musical and technical strengths – the intellectual insight, sensitivity, colour –  were required and employed to deliver both the poetic and the passionate sides of this demanding sonata and its rousing climax drew impressive applause from an impressed audience.“

Angela Ransley- Steinway Hall, London 23/10/2023 : Haydn, Debussy, Chaminade
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