Samson Francois

I have spent the last couple of months listening to the EMI boxed recordings of Samson Francois playing Chopin, Debussy and Ravel. I must say I find this pianist fascinating. A combination of power, originality, and poetry. When he's on top of his game (much of the Chopin, a lot of the Ravel, and some of the Debussy) he is very rewarding to listen to. His tempos can sometimes be very flexible, to say the least (Chopin Piano Concerto No.1, first movement, and Chopin Sonata No.2 first movement) but he is almost always interesting, and he has the technique to pull off most of his ideas. I find his approach to Debussy and Ravel, very muscular, to be a refreshing contrast to the more muted playing of many pianists. In my view his Gaspard rates with the best, as do the Ravel Piano Concertos. The remastering of all these recordings is outstanding. I would be interested in the opinions of others on the forum regarding his playing. Interestingly, on TV (Classic Arts channel) I just saw a fascinating video of Francois playing the final movement of the Grieg Concerto with Fremeux conducting.