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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli plays Ravel & Debussy
A tribute to Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, a veritable mythic and unpredictable Italian pianist,; a perfectionist with a carefully chosen repertory in which Scarlatti's works joined those of Debussy and Ravel, while the great German romantics, from Beethoven to Brahms, were magnified and exalted, showing the soundness of their construction. The number of his recordings is limited, with mostly works by Debussy and Ravel and a few by Beethoven. He used to buy pirate live discs of his concerts as presents for his friends instead of his 'official' recordings! Here is a French anthology collecting legendary renderings of his inimitable touch easy to recognise by its ductile nature and the purity of his style. A revived masterpiece. Recorded Live May 22 1960 London [Gaspard, Concerto], February 12 1952 [Valses], June 3 1960 [Debussy] | 
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| |  | Jean-Efflam Bavouzet plays Ravel, Debussy & Massenet
The exclusive Chandos artist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is a master of this repertoire. This is his second concerto recording for the label, after his survey of the complete piano concertos by Bartók (CHAN10610) which was released in September to high acclaim and voted ‘Orchestral Choice of the Month’ by the magazine BBC Music. Bavouzet’s complete recording of the piano music by Debussy also scooped awards from BBC Music and Gramophone, which wrote: ‘This could well be the finest and most challenging of all Debussy piano cycles.’ On this new release, Bavouzet is accompanied by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Yan Pascal Tortelier, a conductor steeped in the French tradition and utterly at home in this repertoire. The result is a totally idiomatic performance of these French masterpieces for piano and orchestra. Ravel’s light and brilliant Piano Concerto in G major is the intriguing result of a merging of classical models with the idioms and harmonies found in the popular jazz music of his day. At the time of composing this concerto, Ravel had just returned from his travels in the USA and the work is heavily influenced by the jazz music that he encountered there. However, in the second movement Mozart takes precedence, the piano’s theme closely modelled on the slow movement of his Clarinet Quintet; and Saint-Saëns’s sparkling semi-quavers fill the finale. The first performance of this work, given by Marguerite Long in Paris, was a great success, as was the European tour that followed. Another central piece is Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. The work was commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, a concert pianist who had lost his right arm during the First World War. Although at first Wittgenstein did not take to its jazz-influenced rhythms and harmonies, he grew to like the piece. Speaking of the Concerto, Ravel said that he had been determined to make it sound ‘no thinner’ than one for both hands and noted that in the middle of the piece ‘innumerable rhythmic patterns are introduced which become increasingly compact’ and that ‘this pulsation increases in intensity and frequency’ before the various elements ‘contend with one another until they are brusquely interrupted by a brutal conclusion’. Also featured on this disc is Debussy’s Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra. Debussy was a highly self-critical composer and disowned or withdrew several of his early works; this piece was one of them. It was composed in 1889 – 90, and its premiere was scheduled, under Vincent d’Indy, almost as soon as the score was completed, but withdrawn by Debussy just as it was being put into rehearsal. The first performance did not take place until after Debussy’s death in 1918. Although the Fantaisie is the lone piano concerto by a composer regarded as one of the greatest among those who wrote for the piano, it remains one of Debussy's least frequently performed works even now. The work shows the influences of Fauré and Franck, and the piano does not figure as a solo instrument in the conventional concerto sense but rather as an equal partner with the orchestra, although the conventional three movements are still present. Completing the disc in a unique manner are six pieces for solo piano by Massenet. Most famous for his operas and suites for orchestra, Massenet wrote a quantity of very charming piano pieces, of which Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has selected some of the best. The music is typical of its composer – highly tuneful, richly textured, and utterly compelling – and conjures an atmosphere which only a Frenchman could achieve. “As he did in his performance of the Concerto for the Left Hand at the Proms in the summer, Bavouzet undervalues its growling intensity...He's much more at home in the glitter of the G major concerto, with his elegant, delicately tinted playing and Tortelier's deft accompaniments” The Guardian, 28th October 2010 *** “It is the particular mix that makes this disc so appealing...Albeit that the Fantaisie is an early work that Debussy himself seems to have shunned, this performance relishes its colour and élan.” The Telegraph, 5th November 2010 **** “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, 13th November 2010 **** “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 Magazine, December 2010 “[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 Magazine, January 2011 ***** “Bavouzet’s G major concerto is the best since Michelangeli’s 50 years ago: it has style, verve, poetry and balance...they pull off a wonderfully propulsive Left Hand Concerto, full of pizzazz, spontaneity and arresting insights.” Financial Times, 14th January 2011 **** “Bavouzet's accounts of the two Ravel Piano Concertos are very special, quite wonderfully atmospheric, indeed magical; the delicacy and finesse of the pianism are dazzling...This is simply one of the finest records of French piano music in the catalogue.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Ravel - Orchestral Works
“Experiencing Gary Bertini’s balletically informed tempi and subtle balancing of the second Daphnis and Chloe suite’s ravishingly diversified orchestration is like floating in a large, aural aquarium…The lean, silvery string tone throughout recalls the best of vintage French orchestras…In the G major Concerto…there are many instances that reflect the pianist’s maturity, added breadth and colour in comparison to her febrile 1967 DG benchmark.” Jed Distler (Gramophone) “Experiencing Gary Bertini's balletically informed tempi and subtle balancing of the second Daphnis et Chloé suite's ravishingly diversified orchestration is like floating in a large, aural aquarium where you never encounter the same exotic creature twice. The lean, silvery string tone throughout recalls the best of vintage French orchestras, while the brass come into their wonderfully focused own in the "Danse général". In the G major Concerto, Martha Argerich's energy and inspiration are channelled towards less rhythmically wayward ends than in her 1984 studio version with Abbado... there are many instances that reflect the pianists maturity, added breadth and colour in comparison to her febrile 1967 DG benchmark... the first movement's voluptuous "musical saw" trills plus more resourceful legato pedalling of the slow movement's cantabile lines.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2006 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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“…I listened with increasing awe to this dynamic and determined young pianist. Only 25 and already
an international award-winner, Schlime has established his own ensemble alongside conducting and
performing engagements…The principal works on this disc are often paired and compared, given
their shared artistic influences; Schlime draws you into this mesmerising and sometimes playful
Parisian whirl, especially in the final exhilarating movements from Prokofiev. Terrific orchestral
playing under Pletnev…” Jane Jones, Classic FM Magazine “Here is music-making to wonder at. Rarely in their history can the two concertos have been performed with such meticulous care and affection. The Luxembourg-born, 25-year-old pianist includes Pletnev – his more-thandistinguished partner on this disc – among his teachers and has won first prize in one of the less celebrated competitions (so often venues of true musical discovery).
What sadness and introspection he conveys beneath Ravel's clowning surface, shadowed, as it were, by the Left Hand Concerto, by an inwardness mirrored in his own haunting ThreeImprovisations. The central Adagio emerges as a timeless reverie, making it hard to recall a performance of greater magic or tonal translucency, a far cry indeed from a more superficial tradition emanating from Marguerite Long, the work's dedicatee. In the Prokofiev Schlimé and Pletnev take an almost chamber music-like view of the grotesquerie and acrobatics and the result is lyrical and musicianly in a wholly fresh and unsuspected way. Nothing sounds bleak or conventionally percussive and a mysterious, winterfairytale aura hangs over the entire work (never more so than in the Larghetto).
Schlimé confesses that he has always felt impelled to play what he calls his 'other' music, in this case improvised reflections on the two concertos. Recorded late one night in the Moscow Conservatoire, they were added with Pletnev's blessing, and the concluding mournful, jazzman's chime is very much music that registers 'long after it was heard no more'.
Pentatone's sound and balance are exemplary.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “Here is music-making to wonder at. Rarely can the two concertos have been performed with such meticulous care and affection. The Luxembourg-born, 25-year-old pianist includes Pletnev among his teachers. What sadness and introspection he conveys beneath Ravel's clowning surface... The central Adagio emerges as a timeless reverie, making it hard to recall a performance of greater magic or tonal translucency... In the Prokofiev, Schlimé and Pletnev take an almost chamber music-like view of the grotesquerie and acrobatics, and the result is lyrical and musicianly in a wholly fresh and unsuspected way. ...Schlimé's... improvised reflections on the two concertos... were added with Pletnev's blessing, and the concluding mournful, jazzman's chime is very much music that registers 'long after it was heard no more'.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2006 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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“Few new discs that have come my way this year have been totally irresistible but Pascal Rogé’s pairing of the Gershwin and Ravel G major concertos has the wow factor.” Jeremy Nicolas in “The Gramophone” Critic’s Choice – Disc of the Year 2005 “An intelligent, richly enjoyable performance of the Ravel Concerto” BBC Music Magazine, April 2005  BBC Music Magazine
Orchestral Choice - April 2005 |
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Gramophone Awards 2011
BBC Music Magazine Awards 2012
Gramophone Magazine