Salle Cortot : quatre interprètes de Messiaen en quête d’éternité

By Caroline Dessaint, 21 February 2018

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“un subtil équilibre sans cesse redéfini”

Reviewed at Salle Cortot, Paris on 17 February 2018

Messiaen, Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time)

Deborah Nemtanu, Violin

Florent Pujuila, Clarinet

Livia Stanese, Cello

François-Frédéric Guy, Piano

A tale of two pianists: the HK Sinfonietta at La Roque

David Karlin, 22nd July

Yip Wing-sie and the HK Sinfonietta show admirable qualities in their Beethoven cycle. François-Frédéric Guy plays a splendid Third Piano Concerto but Anne Queffélec is disconnected from the orchestra in the Fourth.

****1

Powerful Chopin and commanding Beethoven from François-Frédéric Guy

Alexander Hall, 3rd October

With only the latest composition by Tristan Murail acting as a palate-cleanser, this was a recital by a leading French pianist that was full of Romantic power and passion in works by Chopin and Beethoven.

****1

Spectacular Vaughan Williams from the BBC SO and Ryan Wigglesworth

Roy Westbrook, 13th May

Will this centenary year yield a finer Vaughan Williams symphony performance than this account of the Fourth?

****1

Xavier Phillips and François-Frédéric Guy in Beethoven at Wigmore Hall

Zoltán Szabó, 6th July

A (nearly) complete set of Beethoven’s works for cello and piano from the French friends in London.

***11

Beethoven cello sonatas à la française

David Karlin, 18th February

Phillips and Guy produce a French-accented rendering of three cello sonatas, favouring elegance and crystal clarity over overt romantics.

****1

High-powered pianism from Guy and Bavouzet

Frances Wilson, 13th June

French pianists François-Fréderic Guy and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet returned to London’s Wigmore Hall to present a programme of three 20th century orchestral scores transcribed for two pianos.

****1

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Caroline Dessaint

Caroline est étudiante en musicologie à la Sorbonne et au Conservatoire de Paris. Depuis longtemps, elle se passionne pour la musique vocale et c’est plus particulièrement à l’art lyrique français de la fin du XIXe siècle qu’elle consacre ses recherches.