With his intense look and blown-back hair, David Fray seems the model of a new age record-company pianist. But he is a deeply serious artist, and this new Schubert disc is exceptionally thoughtful and touching. Based around the idea of fantasy, Fray gathers together two solo pieces and two duets; the largest work is the G major sonata, created with a stillness that still moves, a chiming, bell-like purity in the treble lines, and a sense of understated poetry throughout. After the B minor Hungarian Melody, with its lovely shift into the major key, he is joined by his mentor, the famous teacher Jacques Rouvier, for the great F minor Fantasia, where the playing is tougher, and then for the Allegro Lebensstürme in A minor: an unusually satisfying recital.
