Liszt : Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, Sonate en si mineur

Album review

For the 200th anniversary of the birth of Franz Liszt, pianist François-Frédéric Guy has recorded an impressive album of the Harmonies poétiques et religieuses and the Sonata in B minor, a presentation that covers two CDs and demonstrates both the composer's inexhaustible imagination and the performer's commitment to the music. Because Harmonies poétiques et religieuses is predominantly defined by its meditative quality and serene moods, it contains some of Liszt's most sustained and shimmering music, and the expressive control required to play at a soft level for most of the work is fully evident in Guy's rapt and gentle performance. The sonata, on the other hand, is a dramatic counterweight to the soothing lyricism of Harmonies, and it's dynamic energy is compressed in its half-hour duration, in contrast to the nearly 100 minutes it takes to play the first work. After hearing Guy's quiet interpretation of Harmonies, his performance of the sonata is almost startling in its power and passion. Guy unleashes the kinetic energy that had been held in reserve and rises to the demands of this tempestuous work. The reproduction is clear and quite resonant, which is fine in the sonata, but tends toward blurred textures in Harmonies without some careful volume adjustment.

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