François-Frédéric Guy - Brahms: Complete Piano Sonatas (5.1 Edition) (2016) [Official Digital Download MCH 24/192]

Brahms is one of François-Frederic Guy’s favourite composer, he has accompanied him all his life, the first work that he performed in public was his First Concerto. The Brahms Project is, above all, conceived as an amorous dictionary of the composer and not an exhaustive complete recording. It is organised around the piano, the veritable common denominator of an original itinerary combining chamber music, the Lied, the concertos and solo piano works. It proposes to take the listener on a journey to the heart of German Romanticism. Far from being presented as distinct bodies covering his entire creative life like Beethoven, Brahms's works with piano turn from sonatas into ballads, from variations into Klavierstücke, and include trios, quartets, quintet and concertos in keeping with his evolution, with form adapting to the novelty and richness of his intoxicating melodic inspiration. This seeming disparity is found in the works' dimensions. The three great, formidable sonatas, along with the two piano concertos are imposing monuments, whereas the Klavierstücke of the last period are presented as confidences, not to say intimate confessions. This piano, in turn abrupt and lilting, melodic and symphonic, is of such boldness and originality that it led Robert Schumann, upon hearing the first sketches of Brahms's sonatas, to hail 'the new prophet of German music!'

Tracklist:

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

CD1
01. Piano Sonata No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 2: I. Allegro non troppo (Ma energico)
02. Piano Sonata No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 2: II. Andante con espressione
03. Piano Sonata No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 2: III. Scherzo (Allegro)
04. Piano Sonata No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 2: IV. Finale (Sostenuto-Allegro non troppo e rubato)
05. Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1: I. Allegro
06. Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1: II. Andante
07. Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1: III. Scherzo (Allegro molto e con fuoco)
08. Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1: IV. Finale (Allegro con fuoco)

CD2
01. Piano Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 5: I. Allegro maestoso
02. Piano Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 5: II. Andante (Andante espressivo)
03. Piano Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 5: III. Scherzo (Allegro energico)
04. Piano Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 5: IV. Intermezzo (Andante molto)
05. Piano Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 5: V. Finale (Allegro moderato ma rubato)

Personnel:
François-Frédéric Guy, piano

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