The excellent 29-year-old French pianist Jean-Paul Gasparian had seduced us with his mastery and sonic fullness in a disc of the 2e Sonata by Rachmaninov published by Évidence Classique at the beginning of 2022. He had confirmed in an excellent 2e Concerto by Rachmaninov published by Claves. Following his three publications Evidence (Rachmaninov had been preceded by 4 Ballads of Chopin), Gasparian was hired by Naïve. Alas, in their 1er Common CD (Debussy), the sound recording, hard and dry, did not fit with the art of the pianist nor with the works. The hiatus is repaired in this 2e opus, where Gasparian pays homage to his roots through works by Arno Babadjanian (1921-1983), Gérard Gasparian (1960), Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) and Komitas (1869-1935). Even if, here too, we are close to the keyboard, the impact is not to the detriment of the sound breathing and the colors. It is above all a very exotic disc of musical discoveries, with, in particular, Arno Babadjanian, a sort of “exotic Prokofiev”. Splendid and endearing CD.
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