Bruno Mantovani: D'un jardin féérique (compulsory work)
Just like everyone else, the opening is light, awakening, finely woven. Jonathan Fournel places the right accents, with the necessary crescendos and decrescendos, so that more lyricism and transparency come into this sometimes very dark work. Fournel almost goes through it with the 'loose wrist' as if he is playing the work for the umpteenth time. He fully controls this compulsory work. As is the case with 'the better work', he takes the orchestra along with him.
Johannes Brahms: Concerto No. 2 in B-flat, opus 83
First movement - Allegro non troppo
Just that opening already with the horn and the answering piano, setting aside the competition for a moment, is still gripping, isn't it? After that warm, brief introduction, the piano immediately takes the lead in the work and Jonathan Fournel has understood that. He takes the orchestra with him as it makes music in rich colors. What an interaction. Forget the competition, Fournel plays a top-class concert.
Second movement - Allegro appassionato
Wow. Grandiose. G R A N D I O S E !
Third movement - Andante
It becomes moving. Oh so beautiful, the deepest of the heart speaks. Brahms himself is at the piano. I could weep.
Fourth movement - Allegretto grazioso
Playful love, that is how the fourth movement begins. Cheerful, benevolent. And that is how Fournel sings, plays, makes music. A pianist of and for the future. A concert, a recording. Splendid!