# 100 Favorites: # 43



## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

Liszt: Harmonies poétiques et religieuses; Sonata in B minor	
François-Frédéric Guy (Zig-Zag Territories)










This is my first and only recording by François-Frédéric Guy. I intend to explore more of his music -- particularly his complete Beethoven Piano Sonata cycle -- because I've been loving his Liszt. I'd characterize Guy's playing as beautifully rhapsodic and poetic, suiting this repertoire perfectly. I've never heard any other performances of the _Harmonies poétiques et religieuses_, so I can't compare. Suffice it to say that this music is much like the _Années de pèlerinage_: quiet, inward, and lyrical with occasional brilliant flashes like lightning.

I prefer Guy's recording of the Sonata in B minor to Argerich's famous version on DG. Hers is more dramatic and forceful, but I'm more convinced by Guy's subtler account. Not that Guy shortchanges the thunderous elements in the music; it just sounds more musical.


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