Ravel: Berceuse sur le nom de Fauré

This new recording of Ravel’s works is performed by Julian Steckel (winner ECHO Klassik 2012, category “Newcomer of the year”), and includes the rarely played piece “Habanera”.

The young violinist Lena Neudauer captivated the critics with her first recording for Haenssler, Schumann’s Complete Works for Violin and Orchestra (HAEN93258), and on this new recording she tackles the incredibly demanding violin works of Maurice Ravel. Accompanied by Paul Rivinius (who is a critically acclaimed performer in his own right), Lena’s interpretation is wonderfully inspired.

The best of Ravel, Ravel's greatest hits - they're all here on 2 CDs packed to the brim, containing all of Ravel's most memorable tunes.

Inevitably, the focus is on the immortal Bolero, beloved of the film industry. Ravel famously considered it to be his masterpiece, but claimed it had no music in it - an opinion with which many would take leave to disagree.

La Valse extends the theme of dance, the Rhapsodie espagnole the theme of Spanishry and exoticism, while the compilation ends with a flavour of jazz as exemplified in the Blues movement from the Violin Sonata and the Concerto for piano, left hand (which in the 1930s the famous pianist Alfred Cortot dared to play using both hands, incurring the composer's wrath).

Maurice Ravel’s mature works for violin and piano have established a central place in the core recital repertoire and are considered among the most popular of the genre. These diverse works acknowledge the influences of a range of musical styles from jazz to Impressionism and fuse the tonal colours of Debussy with the lyricism of Franck.

The posthumously published one-movement Violin Sonata, written by Ravel as a student, is a lyrical precursor to the composer’s stunning Violin Sonata in G major with its unique character and adoption of the ‘blues’ idiom. The spontaneity, tonal colours and exotic soundscapes in Ravel’s violin music call for immense skill in interpretation, and passages in the frenzied Tzigane test the limits of the performers’ virtuosity.

Violinist Alina Ibragmiova rises to these challenges with extraordinary verve. Recent winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s prestigious ‘Young Artist of the Year’ award, she displays a vast expressive range and interpretative maturity.

She is accompanied by pianist Cédric Tiberghien, who gives elegant and flawless performances and relishes Ravel’s iridescent piano parts.

The addition of Guillaume Lekeu’s masterwork, the extensive and engaging Violin Sonata, makes this major new release a chamber disc to treasure.

In 1969 Gennady Rozhdestvensky married the brilliant pianist Viktoria Postnikova, who first shot to fame at the Leeds International Piano Competition; their son is the internationally acclaimed violinist Alexander, or Sasha, Rozhdestvensky. He has appeared at the Proms, the Barbican and the Festival Hall in London and has made well-regarded cds for both Delos and Chandos usually in Russian repertoire. Here he exhibits clear, precise, rhythmic refinement as free as it is polished.

‘Gypsic’ is the very first recording of violinist Sarah Nemtanu who brings a subtle touch of Balkanese extravagance to classical masterpieces from Ravel and Enesco.

Sarah Nemtanu is one of today’s leading violinists and her career to date commands respect, including being first violin solo with the Orchestre National de France and having performed with many of the most renowned orchestras in the world. For this ambitious recording, Romanian-born Sarah Nemtanu chose to perform pieces from the classical repertoire in arrangements bringing out their Balkan fibre. On this challenging recording Sarah Nemtanu teams up with the influential virtuoso pianist, electro megalomaniac and all-round entertainer Chilly Gonzales who brings his experience in piano improvisations and familiarity with electronic music to arrange classical masterpieces from Ravel and Enesco among others.

This is a very ‘gypsic’ recording in between music and rhythmic, a surprising mixture, impressive in its respect and precision, and delightful in its insubordination to form and genre. The biggest challenge on this album was undoubtedly to rework the Blues from Maurice Ravel’s Violin Sonata, inspired here by rhythmic ethio-jazz, a blend of jazz and the traditional music of Ethiopian azmari minstrels.