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Maurice Ravel, while famous for his orchestral scores, and acknowledged as one of the great orchestrators also produced some of greatest piano works of the 20th century. Although he was no more than a fair pianist, his scores abound with very clear and precise instructions on how the work should be played – dynamics, tempi, phrasing and expression all must be clearly adhered to if the performer wishes to avoid coming to grief. These instructions brought him into conflict with some artists – including Toscanini, but most notably with his friend Ricardo Vines, who said that to play ‘Le Gibet’ from Gaspard de la Nuit as Ravel instructed would bore the audience to death. ‘I do not want to be interpreted, I want to be played’ was the uncompromising answer.

These 2CD contain his entire output for solo piano, from the early Serenade grotesque of 1892, through the masterpieces Gaspard de la Nuit, Valse nobles et sentimentales, and La Valse to his last piano work, Le tombeau de Couperin from 1917.

These 2CD contain his entire output for solo piano, from the early Serenade grotesque of 1892, through the masterpieces Gaspard de la Nuit, Valse nobles et sentimentales, and La Valse to his last piano work, Le tombeau de Couperin from 1917.

Ravel was a pianist, and the piano was central to his art. The piano was the instrument through which he discovered and expressed innovations in style, technique and expression. He composed at the piano, and, unsurprisingly, many of his orchestral works (Bolero being the exception) appeared in piano versions. Although his entire output is modest – around 60 works, he transcribed more than half of these works for 2 pianos, or piano duet.

Apart from the well known works, this 2cd set contains some little known pieces – Entre cloches of 1897 was only published in 1975, and was originally appended to the Haberna, now better known as the 3rd movement of Rapsodie espagnole. Frontispice for 2 pianos, 5 hands was written in 1918.

Ravel’s mother had died in 1917, and he was deeply attached to her. Her loss resulted in 3 years of musical silence, with the exception of Frontispice. It is a short and very experimental work published with a collection of philospohical war poetry by the Italian Ricciotto Canudo. It is a curiously evocative work, almost surreal.

Alexander Gauk (1893-1963) studied with Glazunov and Tcherepnin at Petrograd Conservatory. His early appointments included the Petrograd Music Drama Theatre, the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (formerly the Mariinsky, latterly the Kirov), and he went on to become principal conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic, succeeding Nikolai Malko. He was also appointed to the role of first director of the USSR State Symphony. In addition, he taught at the conservatories in Tbilisi, Leningrad and Moscow.

Gauk premiered many works, including Shostakovich’s 3rd Symphony, The Golden Age, and The Bolt. He was a champion of Khachaturian, Miaskovsky, Prokofiev and Shaporin, and was also one of the first conductors to resurrect Rachmaninov’s 1st Symphony after its catastrophic premiere under a clearly drunk Glazunov. He rather daringly (for the time and place) tackled Mahler and Richard Strauss.

Gauk was a visceral conductor, favouring tight rhythms and driven structures, and the discipline he exerted over orchestral ensemble was breathtaking, and completely free of any blemish. His recorded legacy is extensive, and his is still a formidable name in Russian musical history.

One of the great conductors of the 20th century who was closely linked with some of the greatest Russian composers, and who premiered many of their works.

Extensive booklet notes.

Some unusual Russian repertoire is included in the set.

Recording made in 2008.

Booklet notes.

Klára Würtz studied with Zoltan Kocsis and Gyorgy Kurtag, and received a scholarship from András Schiff for his masterclasses at Prussia Cove, Cornwall, UK. She has since performed widely in the North America and Europe When Bartók started work on his Third and last piano concerto in 1944, he was already ill, and in exile in the United States. The following year he died, leaving the concerto almost complete. His pupil Tibor Serly completed the final bars using Bartók’s instructions. The concerto was premiered in 1946 and was an immediate success. Unlike much of his earlier work, the Third concerto like the Concerto for Orchestra shows a more approachable and less modernistic character. The public had balked at Bartók’s spiky and percussive music, and the comparatively warm, almost wistful romanticism of the Third concerto provides an ideal introduction to the composer. The work is the summation of his close relationship with the concertos of the classical and romantic period composers he admired – Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt and Richard Strauss. Ravel was determined to write just one work in each genre, and if he ever deviated from his rule, the resulting work in the same genre contrasted greatly with its companion. His two piano concertos were composed around 1930. The Concerto for the Left Hand is a very challenging work for the performer, and the mood is predominantly dark and brooding. In contrast the Concerto in G was described by Ravel as a divertissement, and he said that Mozart and Saint-Saëns provided the inspiration. Allied to these influences is Ravel’s love of jazz which can be detected in the first movement and the finale which frame a serene and beautiful slow movement.

Alexander Borodin was a part-time composer whose primary career was in science. Borodin was a member of the ‘Mighty Handful’, the group of five Russian composers which included Balakirev, Cui, Rimsky Korsakov and Mussorgsky, who established a Russian school of composition building on the legacy of Mikhail Glinka.

Borodin liked to joke, ‘I compose only when I am ill’, and he left a small body of work, much of it in a fragmentary state at his death, which was later edited and completed by Rimsky and Glazunov. However, such is the quality of these works that his place among the greatest of Russian composers is assured. The three symphonies, In the Steppes of central Asia, the opera Prince Igor and the two string quartets are masterpieces.

Borodin studied the piano as a small child, and the earliest work on this survey of his complete output for piano is the Polka Helene, composed when he was just 9 years old. Paraphrases on a Simple Theme was a venture with Lyadov, Rimsky-Korsakov and Cui, with Liszt providing the prelude. Written for fun, they are delightfully witty.

The Petite Suite is a collection of short works Borodin composed over a number of years, an example of high class salon music – Borodin knew his Kalkbrenner, Field and Hummel well. The Scherzo in A flat from 1885 is a wonderful work, often played as an encore by Rachmaninov. Ravel admired Borodin, and had studied his music as a teenager, and his affectionate tribute to Borodin is included in the little Waltz in the manner of Borodin.

Contains the premiere recordings of ‘In the Steppes of central Asia’ in the composers arrangement for 4 hands, plus premier recordings for the Scherzo in E, Allegretto in D flat, Polka Helene, and Adagio Patetico in A flat

Comprehensive booklet note

Marco Rapetti has recorded the piano music of Lyapunov, as well as the sonata by Dukas and works for two pianos by Malipiero

Recording made in 2008

See also the Russian Legends box set.

This 10CD set will appeal to those who simply love the piano, and who want to add to their CD collection some of the greatest concertos and sonatas ever written for piano.

It will also appeal to those who are fascinated not only by the great music, but also by the people who play such challenging music.

On these CDs is a remarkable collection of performers. From great artists of the last century such as Richter, Anda, Gilels and Wild – all of whom rank as among the very greatest pianist of all time, to the young Brendel, recorded at the beginning of his career in the early 1960s in two Mozart concertos. Brendel recently retired from performing and recording having become one of the greatest interpreters of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert.

The younger generation is represented by early recordings by performers who are still only in their 30s. Kissin and Lugansky represent the long line of Russian school virtuosos that can be traced back to Anton Rubinstein, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninov, Benno Moseiwitch, Nikolai Medtner, and of course Richter and Gilels. On these CDs are Richter playing Schubert’s sonata D894, Gilels in Beethoven’s concerto 3&5, Anda in a Schumann recital, Brendel in Mozart concertos 19&20, Freire in Liszt concertos 1&2 and Totentanz, Lugansky in Rachmaninov’s Etudes Tableaux, Kissin is Chopin concertos 1&2, Pizarro in Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies, and Grimaud in Rachmaninov’s Second concerto, and Ravel’s G major concerto.

This CD contains the three great French sonatas for violin and piano. Franck’s large-scale four-movement work was completed in 1886 at the same time as his D minor symphony, and string quartet. It was dedicated to the great Belgian violinist and composer Eugene Ysaye on the occasion of his marriage. The score was presented to Ysaye at the wedding breakfast, and he promptly gave an impromptu premiere to the guests! He later gave the official premier a month later – from memory as the light in the hall was so poor. Like many of Frank’s large-scale works, the sonata uses a subtle and unassuming theme that is the basis of the entire work, and this thematic cell is heard at the very beginning of the work.

Debussy’s sonata was completed in 1916, at the height of the First World War. Debussy was already suffering from the cancer that would kill him. The work was premiered with the young violinist Gaston Poulet and Debussy at the piano. Poulet was killed in March 1918, and this premiere proved to be his last public appearance.

Ravel’s sonata dates from the years 1923–27, and premiered by George Enescu, a life long friend of Ravel since student days. The Sonata has a central movement that has a clearly jazz inspired blues mood, with the violin imitating a saxophone and a crooner, with the piano playing a strutting syncopated accompaniment.

Recording made in 1985.

New booklet notes.