By Séverine Joubert, Sud-Ouest, 14/03/2021
In his workshop in Les Essards, Yann Besson makes unique cellos, violins and violas which he sells all over the world, including in China and the United States.
What sparks a vocation? Yann Besson's may well have its roots in that single cassette of Baroque music, tucked away on his parents' shelf between French pop songs. Vivaldi thus reached the ears of a young boy captivated by "the beauty of the work." Yann Besson was "7 or 8 years old" at that first encounter. "I listened to it on repeat."
Four cellos per year.Born in Marennes in 1976, Yann Besson is today an internationally renowned luthier.
For a long time, he sold his instruments in Europe, but now his cellos, crafted piece by piece in his workshop in Les Essards, between Saintes and Saint-Porchaire, travel as far as China and the United States. These unique instruments end up in the hands of musicians seeking rarity and exceptional quality. Each instrument represents three months of work and constant attention. "Every step is a risk." When a cello leaves the workshop, it is worth €22,000. The luthier produces an average of four cellos and six violas or violins per year. He only undertakes restoration and repair at the request of a client.
Yann Besson's workshop is filled with planks of spruce, rosewood, and ebony. Plants and clocks are also present. The ticking of a magnificent church clock marks the passage of time. Here, everything is about precision and the pursuit of "a beautiful and beautiful-sounding instrument." His ally? The bow, which, depending on the pressure applied, allows him to "feel the amplification of the sound." Yann Besson always seeks to "go beyond the obvious." His career demonstrates this, and one cannot help but think of his parents, who gave him the freedom to make choices and supported him in his decisions. As a child, lacking a mandolin teacher nearby, he learned the violin at the Corme-Royal music school. Sensitive and not at all drawn to the virtual world of video games, he absorbed "the physical aspect of the instrument when the sound amplifies. You physically feel the vibrations." "He is interested in the instrument, but the teenager rules out becoming a violinist."
Seven years in London
When it came time to choose a career path at the end of middle school, the carpenter's son opted for the violin-making school in Mirecourt, in the Vosges mountains. Places were scarce, but his "flexible nature, kindness, and adaptability" convinced the jury, as the luthier now knows. His training lasted five years. After graduating with a degree in applied arts, he went to Great Britain, to London, where violin making draws on English and German traditions. "It was an interesting opportunity for me, and London is so cosmopolitan." Yann Besson stayed there for seven years before returning to France, to Les Essards, to a family home. He has thirty-four years of violin-making experience behind him, a well-established reputation, but he never stops exploring and learning.
Yann Besson approaches each new commission with the same candor and freshness. His search for the absolute is such that, again and again, he likes to tell himself that "we don't understand anything about it."
