Unfashionable?
Perhaps. But you know what? Critics not only let him get away with it, they
actually listen and drool over the brilliant delicacy of his playing! Yes, sometimes
fans and critics do agree...
...as they do about his Liszt Opera Transcriptions, and his Rachmaninoff performances,
among other things. And that's probably because he makes familiar music sound
fresh.
One could call him a Romantic.... of the French School, yes, but also of the
German (he's half-German, remember?) and the Russian... But actually, Jean-Yves
believes today there are no longer schools of music as such. A citizen of the
world, he will go wherever his mind and heart take him, and will play music
that suits his fancy if he's certain he can play it well.
Several years ago, Jean-Yves recorded - between concert performances - the complete
cycle of Rachmaninoff's works for piano and orchestra with pianist and conductor
Vladimir Ashkenazy directing the Cleveland Orchestra. (In his younger days,
Ashkenazy was the Russian composer's foremost interpreter). For Jean-Yves, it
was a dream fulfilled - sooner than he had expected. And once again, critics
expressed approval of the beautiful sound of Jean-Yves' unembarrassed sentimentality.
Jean-Yves has also taken on the German Romantics. But he waited a while before
he began playing their music in public performances. He waited until he was
a bit older before he played Brahms because "the sound I want to achieve
is not the sound of a young man". Today he has a recording of Brahms' Paganini
Variations and Schumann's Etudes symphoniques, and one can hear him
play two Schubert Impromptus in the soundtrack of the movie Portrait
of a Lady.
In the future, there will certainly be more (like the Brahms Piano Concertos).
But he wisely believes in waiting, and for diverse reasons. Though he has not
recorded him yet, he now plays Beethoven in concert. And someday, when he feels
he has something new to add, he too will play Mozart but not yet - not while
there are virtuosos like Murray Perahia, whom he greatly admires, who play Mozart
perfectly.
Unfashionable?
Perhaps. But you know what? Critics not only let him get away with it, they
actually listen and drool over the brilliant delicacy of his playing! Yes, sometimes
fans and critics do agree... 
