Bernard Cavanna took up composition on the advice of Henri Dutilleux, and forged on with encouragement from Paul Méfano and Georges Aperghis. Nevertheless, the overriding influence on his work has always been the music and the thought of Romanian composer Aurèle Stroë.
Cavanna jocularly refers to his role models, quipping that Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s erudition was like some kind of worrisome collage and that Nino Rota was a Kurt Weill in Italianate form (Pascal Huyhn). Uniquely free from dogmas, Cavanna’s work is a testament to his highly intuitive inventiveness and delicious eclecticism, combining popular inspiration and romantic legacy.
The composer’s website, www.bernard-cavanna.com, offers quite a bit of documentation as well as free downloads of most of his scores.