Rachmaninov, Bach/Busoni, Ravel & Stravinsky: Piano Works

“In Rachmaninov's Corelli Variations, Kempf distinguishes himself for assiduous, well-integrated tempo relationships between movements, and the easy command and intelligent, symphonically orientated delineation with which he shapes the composer's thick textures...Kempf's glittering technique, supple touch and extroverted demeanour in Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka bring out the music's balletic roots” Gramophone Magazine, July 2011

“this is a colourful and enjoyable account [of Petrushka], well-characterised and full of dynamic contrast...fans of Kempf need have no qualms about acquiring this release.” --BBC Music Magazine, June 2011 ****

“Kempf opens with a beautifully-voiced and judiciously-paced view of Rachmaninov's Variations...he finds a meltingly silvery touch for the Ravel Valses (exquisite) before a return to the Russian repertoire that he plays so well, leaving us, thrillingly, in no doubt that the piano is a percussive instrument.” --Classic FM Magazine, July 2011 ****

“Kempf follows [Bach's] text faithfully, allowing each variation to shape the movement without sounding forced...[He] shows an impressive range of organ-like colour along with a pointillism that suits quick passages well...The scene of 'Shrove-Tide Fair' is a roller-coaster ride under Kempff's fingers, driven by a motoric energy that many pianists would find difficult to sustain over eight-and-a-half minutes.” --International Record Review, April 2011

Poème

"Akiko Suwanai, a tall, imposing violinist of striking stage presence, raised her bow for a sombre, intense descent of notes at the start: this was big-boned, noble playing, with its rhythmic life taut and rigorous.“ --The Times

"Suwanai belongs to those artists who strive for clarity above all. Her playing is pure sound, pure energy.” --chweinfurter Tagesblatt, April 2010

“Her sound is large and powerful, the phrases… are elegant and of effortless simplicity." --Classic Toulouse, October 2009

Beethoven · Ravel · Bartók · Say: Violin Sonatas, Romanian Dances

One of the most promising violinists of the new generation, young Moldovan Patricia Kopatchinskaja makes her Naïve debut with a captivating disc that includes Beethoven’s masterpiece, the “Kreutzer” Sonata, Ravel’s Violin Sonata, Bartók’s Romanian Dances and the premier recording of the Violin Sonata by her accompanist, Fazil Say.

“Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Fazil Say share a radical approach, performing each musical gesture in the most vivid way, with smoothness and tonal beauty a secondary consideration. It's undeniably exciting… Daring, and highly individual playing…” --Gramophone

“This is far from being just another recording of the Kreutzer Sonata. Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Fazil Say share a radical approach, performing each musical gesture in the most vivid way, with smoothness and tonal beauty a secondary consideration. It's undeniably exciting, especially the first movement which, after all, is quite a wild piece, but the exaggerated shortness of many staccato notes can be quite disturbing. And in the finale, which, though it shares something of the first Presto's manic quality, has a joyful aspect, Kopatchinskaja's ultra-short, rather splashy bowing of both main themes fails to project their full melodic élan.

Like the Beethoven, the Bartók is a slightly frustrating mixture of the brilliant and the questionable, but in the Ravel the performance's radical edge is more completely successful. The first movement's out-of-key interjections are sharply characterised and drawn together by a powerful sense of line, and the spirit of the Blues movement is captured wholeheartedly, with some unusual piano sounds and spectacular violin- playing. Not surprisingly, Say's own Sonata is also beautifully played. Most imaginatively written for the two instruments and adopting a direct, uncomplicated style, four short movements chart a progression from romantic melancholy through an area of dark, grotesque struggle to an empty, bleak landscape, with a repeat of the gentle first movement as consolation. Daring, and highly individual playing – it's a CD worth investigating.”  --The Gramophone Classical Musi Guide 2010

Debussy: Nocturnes; Ravel: Daphnis Et Chloe Suite No. 2, Pavane; Scriabin

It seems that at some point DG made some of its best recordings with the Boston Symphony and a wide variety of guest conductors: Abbado, Tilson Thomas, Steinberg, Bernstein, and Jochum. The performances collected here are wonderful. The BSO has always been acclaimed in French repertoire, and at this point in his career Abbado had not yet turned into the fussy micromanager that he is now (at least most of the time). And Scriabin also is French, to the extent that he’s anything at all.

This version of the Nocturnes is certainly the best by this orchestra, and one of the best by anyone. Consider the opening of Fêtes: perfect tempo, ideal transparency of texture, and bright trumpets that provide power without stridency (sound clip). These qualities grace the two Ravel items equally, and work equally well. The Daphnis Second Suite, alternately poetic and exciting, with its chorus parts intact, also ranks with the best on disc.

As for the Poem of Ecstasy, a work you either love or hate, it proceeds in a seamless arch of opulent excess, from mysterious opening to the concluding blast of sound. DG’s remastered sonics are very good–not state of the art for today, perhaps a touch dry, but a slightly lean sonority suits the music well, even the Scriabin (especially if you have a low tolerance for schmaltz). A great collection. --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Berlioz: Herminie, Les Nuits D'ete; Ravel: Sheherazade

“In her mid-forties, this voice has become richer and even more expressive, and he works on this disc suit her to perfection. She not only pronounces the words, she feels them...Her Nuits d'ete reilshes hues both light and dark, and if she'd been around to sing Berlioz's Prix de Rome cantata Herminie in 1828, who know, he might have won gold instead of silver!” --BBC Music Magazine, October 2012 ****

“[Gens is] alive and vivid, giving a passionate account of the wonderful Sur les Lagunes. Elsewhere, she seems to me in too much of a hurry.” --Sunday Times, 9th July 2012

“warm, sensitive, the lyrical French soprano par excellence...Gens bring [Herminie] to life as sympathetically as any of her operatic portrayals...It is unusual to encounter a recording of Les nuits d'ete in which the colouring is so consistent throughout...Gens has in her sights a purer kind of poetry.” --Gramophone Magazine, September 2012

“As you might expect, Gens's singing has sharpened its musical perceptions still further and acquired even more shades of colour since [her] earlier recording. No one today delivers French song with the combination of tonal beauty and verbal nuance she does, and each number of Nuits d'Eté offers a miniature masterclass...Pure ravishment.” --The Guardian, 21st June 2012 *****

French Impressions

Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk

“Denk identifies the use of colour as being key to the Frenchness of these pieces, and Joshua Bell is certainly not short of timbral variety in this exquisitely played recital. It even beats his compelling Franck disc of 20 years ago. The playing is more relaxed and Bell's delicious use of portamento is achingly beautiful. He is sensitively accompanied by Denk, who has a wonderfully deft touch, captured in excellent sound.” --BBC Music Magazine, March 2012 ***** 

“Joshua Bell plays with fire and finesse, with Denk a powerful ally. Franck's dark-light violin sonata, mysterious, ardent and far more than the sum of its parts when played as majestically as here, forms the centrepiece of this seriously beguiling disc. A first essential purchase for 2012.” --The Observer, January 2012

“Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk, a notably well-matched team, give idiomatic performances of these three sonatas...They're especially adept in maintaing the flow of the musical narrative and, with it, the music's emotional flux....Bell is especially impressive in the moto perpetuo finale - not only thrillingly precise but full of colour and variety, too” --Gramophone Magazine, March 2012

“You’d be hard pressed to find a version of Ravel’s Sonata which offers as much fun as this one; you can visualise Joshua Bell winking as he negotiates the second movement’s insouciant smears and pizzicato notes...This is a great performance [of the Franck], especially in the steady Allegretto of the last movement...Sony’s sound is immaculate.” --The Arts Desk, 4th February 2012

Ravel: Orchestral Works

“…the Daphnis et Chloé Second Suite is given a gem of a performance, the opening dawn sequence unravelling like a luxuriant carpet, the principal climax truly momentous. This is a sultry, insinuating Daphnis, stronger on seduction than on translucency, a performance steeped in a sense of theatre, very dynamically recorded. It's the crowning glory of a fine and compelling programme...” --Gramophone Magazine, December 2009

Gramophone Magazine
Editor's Choice - December 2009

“Nézet-Séguin’s ear for Ravel’s evocation of the twilit moments before dawn, and the spectacular sunrise, are fabulous...I’ve not heard a more gorgeously played orchestral disc all year.” --Sunday Times, 29th November 2009

“Four of Ravel’s orchestral scorchers — what’s not to like? Certainly not the sensuality with which Nézet-Séguin and the Rotterdam Philharmonic pour over much of Daphnis and Chloe or the instrumental felicities of Mother Goose.” --The Times, 14th November 2009 ***

“[Nézet-Séguin] is attentive to the subtle rhythmic flexibilities of Ravel’s music and builds up the sonorities in delicate layers. Above all, he understands that the key to Ravel is not haziness but clarity.” --The Telegraph, 13th January 2010 ****

“Yannick Nézet-Séguin elicits disciplined and virtuosic playing from the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, with the superb. Recording enabling all sorts of details to be heard in Daphnis et Chloé. The muted string playing in La valse is delicious, with veiled tone and sighing portamentos.” --BBC Music Magazine, January 2010 ***

“This is sensational: Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Rotterdam will surely be one of those partnerships that magically adds up to more than the sum of its orchestral parts....I defy you to not gasp with sheer pleasure at the build-up of the Daphnis suite...Brilliantly played and superbly recorded.” --The Observer, 31st January 2010

Ravel: Complete Works for Solo Piano

"The Canadian pianist, Louis Lortie, gives an impressive account… throughout the whole set his playing is elegant, virile and sensitive… This is a distinguished and stimulating recital." --The Penguin Complete Guide

"The technical brilliance and absolute assurance of the playing excludes neither passion nor the cooler poetry Ravel admired." --Sunday Times ‘Record of the Week’

"Louis Lortie is on superlative form in his recital…" --Gramophone ‘Critic’s Choice’

Such was Ravel’s genius that he could achieve technical perfection even in his most violently charged moments. Debussy once described him as having ‘the most refined ear that ever existed’. Nowhere is this more apparent than in his piano works.

The Pavane pour une infante défunte is an exquisite exercise in nostalgia, reflecting in is grave formality and sweetness another time and place, namely sixteenth-century Spain.

Le Tombeau de Couperin is a six part Suite, the last of Ravel’s piano compositions, and by his own admission, more a tribute to the entire spirit of French eighteenth-century music than to Couperin in particular. More sombrely, each piece is dedicated to a friend killed in the First World War.

The Valses nobles et sentimentales are a startlingly modern reflection of Schubert’s Waltzes of the same title. A scandal ensued when the works were first played, for people were not used to Ravel’s novel astringency and toughness of expression.

La Valse takes the waltz to another dimension. Sketched before the 1914-18 war it was first conceived as Wien, a symphonic poem, an apotheosis of the Viennese waltz’ and an ‘impression of fantastic, fatal whirling’. Powerful and symbolic, La Valse signalled the end of an era of civilised values.

Gaspard de la nuit is arguably the greatest piano work of the twentieth century and its admirers included Messiaen, who saw its lavish pianistic resource and unfaltering precision as a supreme instance of Ravel’s genius.

The classically based Sonatine is the epitome of distilled grace and Gallic understatement, energised by startling passages of passion and ebullience. Understandably, many scholars consider the work one of Ravel’s subtlest and most finely wrought.

Ravel: Music for four Hands

Hailed as "one of perhaps half a dozen pianists who it is worth dropping everything to go and hear" (Daily Telegraph, London), Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has been praised for the fresh perspective and individuality he brings to a deliberately broad spectrum of the keyboard canon.

Awards:
Penguin Guide ***
Penguin Guide Rosette

French Impressions

“Impressive playing from the extrovert and intelligent Kolly d'Alba. She gives her all in the hothouse Romanticism of Saint-Saens and is sensitive to the mesmerism of Chausson's Poème and Ravel's Tzigane.” --BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 ****

“The way she gently eases into the magical final section of Saint-Saens' Violin Concerto's slow movement is unforgettable, so too her beguilingly seductive handling of Ravel's volatile gypsy inflections and introspectively dreamy Chausson. Apart from the slightly claustrophobic sound in the Saint-Saens, this is a perfect showcase for a young player whose musical insights are of the higest calibre.” --Classic FM Magazine, November 2011 ****

“Rachel Kolly d'Alba's playing immediately grabs our attention. Passionate commitment to the music, rich tone and constantly varied expression combine to leave a powerful, memorable impression...while stressing the dramatic and colourful side of each work, her interpretations are well balanced and persuasive, too.” --Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2011

“Kolly d'Alba is a fearless, passionate and responsive violinist, although her power (as recorded) may be too strong for Saint-Saens's delightful concerto. She can charm though, as the enchanting central movement demonstrates.” --International Record Review, January 2012

Debussy & Ravel: Music for Two Pianos

“Ashkenazy père et fils… clearly having much fun, especially in Rapsodie espagnol, drawing a wide range of colour, and some wonderfully delicate shading.” --BBC Music Magazine ***

“Father and son join forces here with winning élan. Vladimir Ashkenazy is one of the great pianists of modern times, with a legacy of landmark solo and concerto recordings to challenge anybody’s. His son Vovka has inherited the genes and, on disc, has collaborated in performances of chamber music by Tchaikovsky, Arensky, Poulenc and Ravel.” --The Telegraph ****

Vladimir Ashkenazy seemed intent on recording everything in the standard repertoire when he was at the height of his solo piano career in the 1970s. Inevitably, critics would arise to express doubt that one musician could cover so much material so fast, and get it right. One of his contemporaries, the even more prolific conductor Neville Marriner, heard the same complaints. For this listener, the charges do not really hold up in either case. I will admit that there are few cases where I would choose a recording by these artists for my desert-island collection (you know, that wonderful island that happens to be equipped with a state of the art, solar-powered stereo system), even as I continue to marvel at their consistent level of excellence. I think I would be perfectly happy, though, to have Ashkenazy’s Chopin on the island, which, by virtue of his extraordinary dexterity, clarity, and natural pulse is as good as any other. It is true that Ashkenazy can “prettify” some music, Beethoven, for example, but that may be partially due to the naturally beautiful finish to his technique.

With this program of Debussy and Ravel, it is hard to make the music too pretty. The Ashkenazy sound suits this lush, delicately textured music well. This is my first encounter with the son of famed Vladimir. Vovka Ashkenazy was born in Moscow, and moved to Iceland with his family at the age of six. His teachers included Leon Fleisher, Peter Frankl, and his father. His brother Dmitri is also a professional pianist. From what I can tell, his growing discography is dominated by chamber music playing, including a previous father and son outing, also from Decca. It is not easy to differentiate between the pianists on this recording, which can be taken as a high compliment to Vovka Ashkenazy. They achieve a high level of clarity and precise coordination, just the ticket for a four-hand piano recital. The closer, La valse, is no less controlled, but with the requisite raucousness to show that the Ashkenazy family knows how to have some fun. --FANFARE: Peter Burwasser

MP3 320 · 149 MB

Ravel, Debussy & Dutilleux: String Quartets

“The interpretation of the Debussy Quartet has sinew and propulsion, with that apt shading of dynamics and subtlety of nuance that have become hallmarks of the Arcanto's distinctive and distinguished style. Delicacy and fluency are equally embraced in this commanding performance, as they are in the Ravel” --Gramophone Magazine, November 2010

“A "super-group" among quartets, with each player an established soloist, the Arcanto Quartet's intonation is faultless, its blend fresh and exciting.” --The Independent on Sunday, September 2010

“Right at the start, the performance of the Debussy quartet is a striking example of the Arcanto’s skill and stylistic perception. The playing has muscle, incisiveness and drive, tempered by delicacy of nuance...It is a riveting disc – a further manifestation of the Arcanto’s blend of finesse, flair and probing intelligence.” The Telegraph, 20th August 2010 *****

“With their velvet tone the starry Arcanto Quartet prove ideal performers. Often the heartbeat is in the cello (Jean-Guihen Queyras, exceptionally eloquent); but whoever throbs, the music soars...A lovely disc.” The Times, 28th August 2010 ****

MP3 320 · 156 MB

Ravel, Debussy & Massenet: Piano and Orchestral Works

“the interpretations catch the ear with their blend of subtle phrasing, polish and unanimous zest...A group of charming solo piano miniatures by Massenet complements and at times connects with the styles of Debussy and Ravel, and Bavouzet plays them beautifully.” --Gramophone

“The ebullient French pianist Bavouzet scales the heights in this splendid and generous CD with the BBC Symphony Orchestra...The G major bounces along, though, with reflective asides not forgotten. In the Concerto for Left Hand, Bavouzet winningly balances the grandiose and jazzy.” --The Times ****

“[Bavouzet] turns in a performance of the Fantaisie that illuminates this uneven yet magical work like no other. As to the Ravel concertos, I have no hesitation in saying these are the greatest performances I have ever heard. The G major is a sharp as a razor, achingly lyrical when required and, above all, fun...The 'Left Hand', helped by Tortelier's incisive conducting is simply awe-inspiring.” --Classic FM *****

MP3 320 · 166 MB

Debussy · Fauré · Ravel: Piano Trios

'PICK OF THE MONTH' - BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
CRITICS' CHOICE - FANFARE

'It's a lovely recital; I've never been so convinced that the Debussy's worth hearing, and the Ravel is full of delicate delights.' --BBC Music Magazine

'Beautifully wrought performances. Rendered with natural empathy and graceful ensemble-playing, the Florestan’s playing is quite glorious' --Fanfare, USA

'A delightful grouping of French trios from the Gramophone Award-winning Florestan's, who breathe fresh life into these works ... top of my list.' --Gramophone

'Such flair proves the Florestan Trio, if proof is needed, to be among the finest chamber ensembles of the present day. Outstandingly imaginative performances, finely recorded' --Classic CD

MP3 320 · 141 MB

Prokofiev: Cinderella Suite; Ravel: Ma Mère l'Oye

Two megastar pianists in glittering duo arrangements: this is enthralling

Listening to this inspired disc is like eaves-dropping on two of the great pianists of our time playing for their own pleasure, oblivious of microphones and without a trace of self-consciousness. How Argerich likes to revisit old favourites, here joining with Pletnev to invest Ravel's Mother Goose (which she recorded for DG with Nelson Freire and added exotic percussion, 10/97) with the utmost warmth and playful bravura beneath an insouciant Gallic surface.

But the main attraction is a delectable surprise: Pletnev's arrangement for two pianos of music from Prokofiev's Cinderella, described in Peter Cosse's booklet-note as 'a pianistic pas de deux...that is essentially an appeal — understated and rebellious by turns — on behalf of the oppressed and underprivileged'.

MP3 320 · 110 MB

Ravel: 3 Sonates pour Violon

Gramophone Awards 1997

Rogé and Juillet make a splendid duo, united in the refinement of their playing, producing all the subtle gradations of tone, volume and rhythm that allow Ravel, the fastidious musical colorist, to emerge with shining clarity.

I can imagine that Ravel himself would have been delighted with this finely recorded disc. Pascal Rogé and Chantal Juillet make a splendid duo, united in the refinement of their playing, producing all the subtle gradations of tone, volume and rhythm that allow Ravel, the fastidious musical colourist, to emerge with shining clarity.

But they also seize with delight on the exotic features - the lazy Habanera rhythm, the darkly melancholy Jewish melody of Kaddisch, the blues in the 1927 Sonata, and above all, the gipsy élan of Tzigane, where the wild excitement is increased by the cimbalom-like sounds of the piano huthéal.

And they produce a special warmth and fervour for the softer idiom of the early 1897 Sonata. With all this it's easy to overlook the contribution of Truls Mark; he and Juillet relish both the lyricism and the more grotesque elements of the Sonata for violin and cello. This is definitely one of those records that sounds better with each hearing, as new delights - here a variation of tone-colour, there an expressive rubato catch the ear. It's an attractively planned programme. too; an excellent idea to have the short items as interludes between the sonatas. --Gramophone [Awards 1997]

MP3 320 · 168 MB

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No 3 · Ravel: Piano Concero in G

“Argerich at her most charismatically brilliant.” --BBC Music Magazine

“For those who prefer studio recordings, Argerich's highly regarded 1974 taping has been added to her famous pairing of the Ravel G major and Prokofiev Third Piano Concertos. This one has both raw passion and wonderfully controlled gradations of touch and tone.” --Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

There have been others to match the bustle and brilliance of Argerich's Prokofiev, her coloristic range, her drive, her flashiness, her straining at the leash. But I'm not sure I could name anyone who has so satisfyingly combined all those qualities, who has given us such a rocket-launched recapitulation in the first movement, such circus-routine vividness in the following variations (Prokofiev grew up in a Russia where `circusization of the arts' was one of the 'in' concepts), or such monstrous, hyperbolic fairy-tale imagery in the finale, and all done with the most engaging reckless abandon.

The Ravel Concerto is another bundle of energy. I had forgotten how miraculous is the blend and interplay of piano and orchestra, and how ecstatically Argerich weaves around the cor anglais restatement in the slow movement.

Embarras de richesses indeed, now that DG have added Argerich's Gaspard to the original LP coupling. Here is a version of Ravel's devilish triptych which is unusually faithful to his subdued dynamic markings, quite apart from its breathtaking agility. The results ring poetically true at the same time as defying criticism in pianistic terms. -- Gramophone [12/1995]

MP3 320 · 153 MB