Rare and out of print.
"Gouvy was born in Saarbrücken and spent his life alternating between German and French musical worlds - an alternation that, as Tal Groethuysen´s sensitive program notes suggest, left his mark on his compositional voice. On the one hand, these pieces not only summon up, in their gestures, Schumann and Schubert; more significantly they are tied formally to the German classical traditions. On the other hand, there´s a Gallic charm and clarity - a rejection of psychological morbidity and textual complexity - that only Mendelssohn, among the canonical Germanic composers, could match.
All of his music is rhythmically smart; much of it is emotionally impetuous as well. But there´s also a great deal of quiet intimacy, too. Still, if he´s not always outgoing, he´s certainly always healthy and self-assured - and if, despite occasional harmonic progressions that throw you off balance, this music tends to be, on the whole, conservative by the standards of its time, I´m not sure what difference that makes a century after the fact. Urgently recommended, even for readers who do not usually take up the second-string romantics."
(Peter J. Rabinowitz – Fanfare)
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