Of course one can always argue that orchestral works played on the piano irrevocably lose in scope and musical hues. What a truism! However an eighty-people strong orchestra can’t necessarily do what a soloist, fully in command of their machine – in this case a grand piano – can. Pianist François-Xavier Poizat, a Swiss citizen of Chinese descent, takes this opportunity to enjoy much more freedom on the keyboard, to the point where one may wonder if he somehow possesses more fingers than us, mere mortals. For instance, the transcription of Ravel’s La Valse, not by the composer himself – diabolically difficult −, nor that of Lucien Garban, or Glenn Gould, or Andrey Kasparov, but that of Moscow pianist Alexander Ghindin, is utter pianistic madness. And yet, all the notes are Ravel’s, but the orchestra is followed closely. The same remarks apply to most of the works presented here: Stravinsky’s Five pieces from Petrushka in Theodor Szántó’s version, the Adagio from Khachaturian’s Spartacus according to Matthew Cameron, Shostakovich’s famous waltz Suite for Variety Orchestra rewritten by Florian Noack… Every time, Poizat’s incredible technique allows him to go beyond the purely mechanical aspect of the partitions to extract the real, unadulterated music. The work of a fantastic pianist on display! © SM/Qobuz