Godard Sonata fantastique op.63 Jouni Somero,piano

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Jouni Somero plays Benjamin Godard Sonate fantastiques Op.63 Recorded 8.3.2011 More www.jounisomero.com order in Spotify, or iTunes
-Les Genies de la Forét
-Les farfadets
-La Fée d'amour-Les Espirits de la Mer
Word Premiere Recording!!
From Album Benjamin Godard Piano Works Jouni Somero, piano FCRCD-FC9738 www.fcrecords.fi
Dazzling and Muscular Performances of Godard’s Best Piano Music
By Hexameron on February 1, 2016 (Amazon)
Benjamin Godard (1849-1895) was much like Saint-Saens: a cosmopolitan Frenchman not at all seduced by Wagner and instead influenced by Mendelssohn, Chopin, and Liszt. He was manifestly inspired by these composers when writing for the piano. Many of his pieces meet the exigencies of the amateur salon market, while others require the virtuosity of a concert pianist. The Grand Piano label is surveying Godard’s piano music with pianist Eliane Reyes, but she is outclassed by Jouni Somero, who has the muscle and spirited élan to bring out the best in these works.
The “Valse Chromatique’ is a tour-de-force, one of Godard’s most garishly acrobatic examples of bravura pianism. It is bustling with ostentatious flourishes, glissandi, splashy octaves, and Alkan-like chromatic scalar figures going up and down. Somero plays the hell out of it, achieving more bombast than the piece probably requires, and the ensuring fireworks are riveting. By contrast the “Promenade en mer” is a gentle salon piece evoking a boat scene, which has a major tempestuous climax. Compared with Reyes, Somero is the better showman and performer. He exhibits tremendous brio and plays with colossal strength and Romantic abandon in the crescendos, whereas Reyes is restrained and keeps her dynamics low. She approaches this piece as if it’s a delicate French nocturne, while Somero tackles it with Lisztian flair.
A similar disparity between performers is on display in the Sonata Fantastique, perhaps Godard’s most significant piano work. Each movement is of a programmatic nature. “The Spirits of the Forest” features a rapid patter of tremolos and a repeated bass note figure depicting forest creatures. Godard employs the flamboyant attitude and pianistic devices of Liszt, and Somero’s heavier hand enlivens the work. “Goblins” is all bouncy and comical with a light elfin texture. “The Fairy of Love” is a Schumannesque song without words. In Somero’s hands, its passionate climax becomes a monumental grandiose outpouring; absolutely breath-taking and heartfelt. Reyes is cold and anemic by comparison. “The Spirits of the Sea” is akin to Chopin’s fastest and most turbulent of pieces with its breakneck speed and whirlwinds of arpeggios, all of which Somero plays confidently faster than Reyes.
Godard’s Piano Sonata No. 2 is cut from the same cloth as the first. It begins with an “Allegro” of Russian character, utilizing a staccato rendering of the “Dies Irae” motif in its first theme. Virtuosic flourishes and passagework are abundant. Once again, Somero demonstrates more fire and brio than Reyes. The “Adagio” feints the listener with a lyrical respite, but things are not as relaxing as a typical slow movement. Sudden rumblings of turbulence and a rousing dramatic central section keep things exciting. Somero gives it all he’s got, imbuing every moment of passion with more intensity than Reyes. He produces massive sonorities in a stentorian fashion, which Reyes seems uninterested in exploiting.
Bottom line: If you’re going to sample Godard’s piano music, this is the disc to get. Fans of virtuosic Romantic pianism should enjoy the sonatas. For those tempted by the ongoing survey by Grand Piano, my opinion is that Eliane Reyes is not temperamentally suited to this repertoire. Somero clearly enjoys performing this kind of music, injecting an appreciable degree of feeling and dynamic power into the sonatas.