Neuf suites pour piano

Description

Here is a record that will undoubtedly divide listeners. The 9 suites in question make up the "volume 2" of Handel's keyboard works, which are generally considered to be a mix of uneven pieces gathered without a true musical project. An excellent accompanying text describes how this disparate assembly, blending French, Italian, German, and English tastes, ultimately took the form of the 1733 edition, played here. Adding to this is the fact that Handel's somewhat wild style translates less effectively to the piano than Bach's very formal structures, which explains why few pianists have performed the entire volume. In selected pieces, however, Richter and Gavrilov, Schirmer, or Koroliov shine. Scipione Sangiovanni seems to have preferred a Steinway here to his usual Kawai, which further emphasizes his stated desire not to "sound like a harpsichord," established right from the start in an astonishingly romantic and resonant prelude of HWV 434. But this competition familiar, who plays very "cleanly," struggles to maintain the listener's interest over these 2 hours of music: perhaps due to a lack of imagination in the ornaments and too little variation in the atmospheres, especially in the slow pieces. While the fast pieces progress well, it seems to me that in the slower ones, the thread sometimes breaks at points where the phrase should find its bounce. Personally, I still prefer the harpsichord (Baumont, Soly, Borgstede, Ross, Pinnock, and many others), but I believe that the opportunity to have a complete set should attract piano lovers and talent scouts. (Olivier Eterradossi)