BeethovenPiano Concertos – No 2, Op 19; No 3, Op 37
François-Frédéric Guy pf Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra / Philippe Jordan
Naïve V5179
Exuberance and poetry as another Beethoven concerto cycle concludes
With this coupling François-Frédéric Guy completes his set of the Beethoven concertos, once more admirably partnered by the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra under Philippe Jordan. And what a joy his performances are. Brilliant and direct in the finest French tradition, they are also alive with passing felicities, whether illuminating an early pioneering spirit or a change into what EM Foster once called “Beethoven’s C minor of life”. In the Second Concerto Guy’s exuberance and poetry go hand in hand. The first movement’s startlingly original cadenza is played with unfaltering assurance and the hushed magic with which Guy handles the main theme of the central Adagio sounds a special note. A dazzling finale, too, finds ample time for individual nuance and pointed characterisation, making his sense of contrast in the Third Concerto all the more remarkable. Here both he and Jordan take a qualified view of Beethoven’s con brio, conveying an atmosphere of foreboding, of minor-key unease resolved in an inward-looking Largo where everything is experienced afresh. The finale is unusually restrained but, again, there is nothing of the studio and everything of a life experience. So while I would never want to be without Gilels’s early, magisterial recording with Cluytens (did this ever find its way onto CD?) or Argerich’s recent and unforgettable performance with Abbado (DG, 1/05), Guy’s reading ranks high in a crowded catalogue.
Bryce Morrison
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