When it comes to Chopin's piano works in particular, every enthusiast has his own preferences, which at the same time means that every newcomer is measured against them. As far as the Third Piano Sonata alone is concerned, the discography may even be called overflowing, which makes it even harder to become truly enthusiastic about such a newcomer. Yet French pianist Jonathan Fournel (*1993) certainly holds his own. Many will undoubtedly still remember what happened on the final evening of the Queen Elisabeth Competition 2021, when Fournel delivered a truly unheard-of grand solo role in Brahms' Second Piano Concerto. And to think that in that so memorable competition, a laureate had never before succeeded in winning the top prize with this concerto. And that in the company of five formidable competitors, including no fewer than three Russians (this was before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on February 24, 2022, when shortly afterward everything regarding it – also in the arts sector – suddenly became different). Moreover, Fournel was the first European in eighteen years to win the competition.
His Brahms album, also released on Alpha (discussed here), was also welcome, the recording dating from a few months before the competition. It was already clear then: Fournel, a master pianist and a great promise for the future.
Thus my expectations regarding that Third Sonata – and this despite the already noted discographical 'sea to drink' – were quite high. Would he do it even better or possibly differently than all those famous predecessors? That turns out not to be the case, although his playing does express great grandeur and a fine combination of structurally oriented musical thinking and – whether suggested or not (the listener can never determine this) – intuitively directed expression in phrasing and articulation. It is those fragile moments of an accent here and a tempo fluctuation there that place the discourse in a slightly different light, without really deviating stylistically from what we have heard from so many other established pianists in this field. Actually, this aroused a longing for more adventurous programming, although this is not solely the musician's responsibility: the label also has considerable say in this matter (marketability serving as the prime commandment).
The two piano works by Szymanowski are relatively less well known, but in this repertoire too the competition is considerable. Think in this regard only of Krystian Zimerman, who seems to have this music written on his body. But it must be said that Fournel in the Variations op. 10 does indeed manage to rival Zimerman (discussed here). It is evident that Fournel has brought particularly memorable interpretations to his credit in this regard. He also brings out the capriciousness, the exoticism and the influences of Chopin and Skrjabin on these piano pieces by Szymanowski quite well.
What is a pity is that the recording reveals a clearly audible difference between the piano sound in Szymanowski's work (more direct) and in Chopin's (more distant), although this is more noticeable on an electrostatic headphone than when reproduced via speakers. The available recording data provide no explanation for this rather remarkable phenomenon, since the three works were recorded between October 28 and November 1, 2023 in the same acoustic environment: the Théâtre populaire romand in the Swiss La Chaux-de-Fonds, known among other things for the many (excellent!) Philips recordings that were made there from the late 1950s onward.