Ravel: Alborada del gracioso (Miroirs No. 4)

Exquis! Stephen Hough presents an enchanting programme of French music, played with the filigree perfection and total command of the music’s expressive world that make him one of the most admired pianists of today. In typical Houghian style this recital is full of surprises and lesser-known gems from the repertoire, as well as works by the masters Fauré, Ravel, Debussy and Poulenc. A particular delight is Hough’s own arrangement of the Massenet song Crépuscule, a ravishing exercise in creative yet faithful transcription. This release is both a tribute to the lyric genius which flowered in nineteenth- and twentieth-century France, and a glimpse into the musical mind of a great pianist.

Alice Ader’s first Debussy disc (Erato) won all the awards in the specialist press on its release twenty years ago and is still regarded as an unequalled benchmark. Now this unconventional pianist at last unveils her recording of the complete Ravel piano works.

And what better moment could there be than Debussy Year to present these two hours or so of music in dialogue, en Miroirs as it were, with the oeuvre of ‘Claude de France’? Ravel, the hot-blooded Swiss watchmaker, the discreet Lisztian, the mediocre pianist who made such extreme demands on his colleagues, the man of so many sublime paradoxes, deserves only the finest interpreters: those who take the time to explore his deepest recesses. Alice Ader, light-years away from the flashy gestures often encountered in this music, takes us to the very heart of one of the most secretive composers of his time.

Following a first solo recital (2008) and a successful Ravel-Prokofiev concerto recording (2010), this is the third recording of Russian pianist Anna Vinnitskaya for Naive.

The recording presents two of the heights of Ravel's piano repertoire, 'Gaspard de la Nuit' and 'Miroirs', performed many times in recital before this recording.

In both works, as well as in the mysterious 'Pavane pour une infant défunte', Anna Vinnitskaya displays the whole range of her skills: intense delicacy, amazing legato and control of dynamics, supple and a strong personal style.

Anna Vinnitskaya, aged 29, is developing an intense concert career in Germany, Belgium and the UK. She won First Prize at the Queen Elizabeth Competition in 2007 and an Echo Klassik award (Germany) in 2011 for her latest recording.

This title was released for the first time in 1995.

Lipatti’s recorded legacy is small. Regis presents a selection of his recordings for EMI which best display this iconic pianist’s artistic diversity. Included are sonatas by Scarlatti, Mozart, Chopin and his compatriot Enescu and extracts from Brahms’ Waltzes Op.39 with Nadia Boulanger.

'To his wife he [Lipatti] said, "You see, it is not enough to be a great composer. To write music like that you must be a chosen instrument of God." By the same light we may say that it is not enough to be a great pianist: to play as Lipatti played you must be a chosen instrument of God. God lent the world His chosen instrument who we called Dinu Lipatti for too brief a space.’ Walter Legge