guitarist Thibault Cauvin recounts the recording of his 10th album in a 12th century chapel

Thibault Cauvin is a musician with multiple distinctions: at the age of 20, he had already won 36 international prizes, thus becoming the most successful guitarist in the world. In this excerpt, he joins Cécile, the director of his tenth album, in a recording studio that is out of the ordinary: a chapel dating from the 12th century. With her, he searches for the perfect place to record. Several tests are carried out.

“It is an important moment. It’s like tasting a grand cru: we try to find the best flavors, the ideal blend between reverberation and the fact that it’s precise, roundness… There are a lot of parameters, explains the guitarist. What’s great about places like here is that if you move a meter away, the sound is completely different.”

“Jean-Sébastien Bach is the essence of all music”

For this tenth disc, the man with 1,000 concerts all over the world pays tribute to the composer Jean-Sébastien Bach. When asked what motivated this artistic choice, his answer is clear: “It’s the essence of all music. Even when you listen to rap, it comes from Johann Sebastian Bach, considers the virtuoso. This music was composed centuries ago, but it is thoroughly modern. She is infinitely rich.”

To be sure of being in optimal conditions for this tribute, the artist leaves nothing to chance, even if it means filing his nails down to the finest. “It’s so that there is a perfection in the texture. […] Because if there is the slightest invisible hitch, it can be heard and it drives me crazy.”

Excerpt from “Prince of the guitar”, broadcast in “1:15 p.m. on Saturday” on April 8, 2023.

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