Ravel’s piano music
Early this morning, I listened carefully again to the second movement of the concerto in G by French composer Maurice Ravel. I found that this music is really astounding: It helped me to connect with my inner self; it is beautifully melodic, wailing, sad, yet not desperate. This is the work of an amazing genius whose compositions ought to be performed a lot more…
On this CD, we also get the Ravel Concerto for the Left Hand, and the 5-movement “Miroirs” for solo piano. Below are the CD track listings:
- 1. Piano Concerto For The Left Hand In D – Lento – Andante – Allegro – Tempo 1
- 2. Piano Concerto In G – 1. Allegramente
- 3. Piano Concerto In G – 2. Adagio Assai
- 4. Piano Concerto In G – 3. Presto
- 5. Miroirs – 1. Noctuelles
- 6. Miroirs – 2. Oiseaux Tristes
- 7. Miroirs – 3. Une Barque Sur L’océan
- 8. Miroirs – 4. Alborada Del Gracioso
- 9. Miroirs – 5. La Vallée Des Cloches
This Audio CD was issued on October 5, 2010
I don’t enjoy the Left-Hand concerto as much as the G-Major, because it is full of somewhat weird moods of gloom in one moment, then switches to march music, and then trombone slides and jazzy sounds in the following moments. It is hard for me to connect these. In the G-Major concerto, Mr. Aimard does a beautiful job of conveying the rich variety of moods and textures of this concerto, with its humor and great pathos of the Adagio Assai slow movement.
The Ravel G major concerto is performed with humor and great rhythms on this CD. Aimard plays beautifully, and Pierre Boulez provides strong, support with his instrumentalists.
Here is Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli playing my favorite: the Adagio Assai of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G-Major. The orchestra is conducted by Sergio Celibidache.
And here are two top musicians talking about some key aspects of the Ravel Piano Concerto in G major: Helene Grimaud and the Berliner Philharmoniker:
And here is the first movement of this concerto, as performed by Ivan Fischer conducting the Budapest festival orchestra and Zoltan Kocsis, Piano:
Tags: Maurice Ravel, Piano concerto in G, Pierre Boulez, Pierre-Laurent Aimard