Over the past two decades the Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen has become a highly sought-after chamber music collaborator in concert and on disc. He also is a commanding and masterful solo artist. His penchant for combining Rameau and Scriabin goes back at least to a 2019 New York recital, where he programmed both Rameau’s Suite No. 2 in G and Scriabin’s Sonata No. 8. Here he includes Rameau’s A Minor Suite along with the G Major, while opting for Scriabin’s 6th and 7th Sonatas. Although more and more pianists are taking up Rameau on the modern concert grand, few do so with Pohjonen’s elegance, technical ease and tonal allure.
If you don’t believe me, listen to the gentle crowing of Pohjonen’s ethereal trills in the A Minor Suite’s Les Trois Mains, or, in the G Major, Les Tricotets’ lilting repeated notes and Les Triolets’ gorgeous finger legato articulation. And speaking of trills, the sheer evenness and textural control this pianist brings to the Scriabin Sixth’s complex central section clarifies the climaxes’ murky pools without sacrificing atmospheric roundness. Pohjonen scales the Seventh Sonata’s dynamic scheme with careful calibration and fluidity, although I gravitate more towards Sviatoslav Richter’s hard-hitting accents and nervous energy, not to mention the darting volatility of Volodos’ fast runs. The pianist provides his own excellent annotations to this beautiful disc.
