This two-disc Hybrid SACD set of the complete works for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, features the highly-regarded Libyan born virtuoso Abdel Rahman el Bacha. Abdel Rahman el Bacha has lived in France for the last 30 years and during this time has made many critically-acclaimed recordings for the French label Forlane, including an award-winning CD of the early works of Sergei Prokofiev.
Born in Beirut in 1958 Abdel Rahman el Bacha moved to France at the age of 16 to study at the Paris Conservatiore. In 1978, when only 19, he won the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Piano Competition by a unanimous judgment. In 1983, his first recording for the label Forlane, “Early Works by Prokofiev”, was awarded the "Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros". For the same label he has recorded 3 Concertos by Bach, Ravel's 2 Concertos and works by Schumann, Ravel and Schubert. Alongside a series of critically acclaimed recordings of the complete piano sonatas of Beethoven, he has also released Chopin's complete solo piano works on 12 CDs in chronological order.
Maurice Ravel was trained as a pianist, and although he is much better known as a composer of some of the greatest orchestral music of the first part of the 20th century, he left behind a significant number of pieces for solo piano. He later transcribed several of these, notably the Pavane pour une infante défunte and Valses nobles et sentimentales, for larger forces.
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
