It is hard to be lionised as a pianist when, like Pascal Rogé, you have built your reputation largely on playing French music. Those who dash off Liszt and Chopin are the flamboyant technical wizards; those who deal in Beethoven or Bach are the intellectual heavyweights. But the French piano repertoire, rich though it may be, is a different beast altogether: introverted, elusive, impressionistic.
Rogé may not be a lion, but over the years he has built up quite a following and, in this recital, he amply demonstrates why. On stage he is unassuming, often moving on to the next piece before the audience can applaud, but creating an intimate atmosphere nevertheless.
For the most part, he gives the notes a soft edge, sometimes subduing the instrument so it is heard sweetly. At times he stabs at single, loud notes with a pointed finger. In its most percussive moments, his playing can lose a little shape. But what one remembers most is the airy lightness with which he weaves textures around a melody.
One rumour about this repertoire is that it all sounds the same. But this "travel-recital through French music" (Rogé's description) shows that it is very much not the case. Starting in the still-romantic world of Fauré, he moves to the subtle eastern inflections of three of Erik Satie's mesmeric Gnossiennes.
Two strongly descriptive movements from Ravel's Miroirs bring more sumptuous sonorities, and are followed by the same composer's Sonatine. Poulenc's Thème Varié brings a touch of wit from Rogé. It is an artful parlour-game of a piece, in which an almost hymn-like theme is given 11 brief variations in a series of moods, from Joyeuse to Sarcastique, each doing just what it says on the tin.
But the highlight comes in the second half, with Debussy's First Book of Preludes. From the stillness of Footsteps in the Snow, through the understated melodiousness of Girl with the Flaxen Hair, to the crescendo at the heart of The Sunken Cathedral, Rogé knows how to capture the character of each piece, achieving a cumulative effect of extraordinary colour.
