Tim Ashley
The Guardian
July 2014

Benjamin Godard (1849-1895) is nowadays known solely for the Berceuse from his 1888 opera Jocelyn, regularly performed by classical and popular musicians alike. There was more to him than that, however, as this enterprising disc—Volume 63 of Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto series—admirably proves. Godard distrusted Wagnerism, and his two piano concertos constrain Romantic sensibilities within the classical form in ways that often resemble Brahms, though Godard's thematic and orchestral elegance remain quintessentially French. The First, in A Minor (1875), with its slithery scherzo and funeral-march slow movement, is more immediate in impact than its 1893 successor in G Minor, where the emotional turbulence seems a bit forced. The Introduction and Allegro (1880), meanwhile, has a glorious up-tempo swagger. The disc is a tour de force for Howard Shelley, who, in addition to coping with Godard's often vertiginous piano writing, directs all three performances from the keyboard, which is no mean feat.

The Guardian