Neurologia Maurice Masson

This is a 'concept-album' around Maurice Ravel and his special relation with Helene Jourdan Mourhange, a dear friend and violinist. The programme is set-up in order to take the listener by the hand into Ravel's musical world through a series of pieces which are gradually more deep and complex. The music is played on a 1935 Hautrive piano, while violin and cello are played on gut strings. The Tzigane is in the rarest version for Lutheal (Pleyel, 1910), a period prepared piano with a gipsy character.

Unusually the liner note deserves a mention ahead of the music: the fine pianist Jeremy Denk, half of this regular duo, manages to encapsulate the elusiveness of French romantic music with such insight in a few sharp sentences, his words almost shape the way we listen to this superbly played disc. Saint-Saëns' wistful and emotional Sonata No 1 and Ravel's bluesy, ironic sonata have a whipped, airy quality. Joshua Bell plays with fire and finesse, with Denk a powerful ally. Franck's dark-light violin sonata, mysterious, ardent and far more than the sum of its parts when played as majestically as here, forms the centrepiece of this seriously beguiling disc.

Maurice… Plonger sur le jardin de corail de Blue Bay, s'enivrer de senteurs poivrées au marché central de Port Louis, se baigner au pied des Rochester Falls, savourer des brochettes ou un vindaye de crocodile, admirer les stucs du temple tamoul de Grand Baie, observer les dauphins au large de Tamarin… À vous de choisir ! Complet Toutes les informations dont vous avez besoin pour réussir et profiter de votre séjour Pratique Des centaines d'adresses authentiques choisies par nos auteurs-voyageurs Culturel Les clés pour comprendre la destination …

A native of Bergen, Edvard Grieg almost single-handedly brought the riches of Norwegian national style to worldwide attention during the 19th century with the use of folk music in his compositions. The ambitiously scaled Symphonic Dances features a compelling selection of regional melodies and jaunty rhythms to brilliant effect. Music from the eloquent drama of Sigurd Jorsalfar and the Two Elegiac Melodies are also included along with the Bridal Procession and the ever-popular Lyric Suite. These classic Vox recordings by Maurice Abravanel and the Utah Symphony Orchestra were originally issued in 1976 and have been newly remastered from the original tapes.

This stunning and generous collection belongs right at the top of the heap in its respective repertoire. The Debussy is still a comparative rarity in concert if not on disc, a remarkable fact given that it's wholly gorgeous from first note to last. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's excellence as a Debussy pianist already has been acknowledged by just about everyone who has heard him, and needs no further advertisement here. The performance is outstanding, sensitive to every nuance, but also very French in its clear-eyed sensibility and understanding that focused rhythm and supple tempos prevent the music from turning excessively sentimental or blandly pretty. And in Tortelier, Bavouzet has a conductor who seconds him every step of the way. A similar sensibility informs these swift, razor-sharp, and utterly thrilling accounts of the two Ravel concertos. That for the left hand seldom has sounded so exciting, or in its jazzy central march section, so sinister. Listen to the bite that both soloist and orchestra bring to that descending scale theme, and notice the way Bavouzet shapes his cadenza so as to preserve the illusion of multiple parts played by multiple hands–all without slowing down at the tough passages. It's really an amazing performance by any standard. Even the dark opening, often merely murky on other recordings, has shape and urgency, the buildup to the initial entry of the piano creating incredible tension.

Edvard Grieg already had the renowned Piano Concerto and Sigurd Jorsalfar behind him when he was commissioned to write incidental music for a staged version of Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt. This resulted in some of Grieg’s most famous music, from the Norwegian trolls and hobgoblins of In the Hall of the Mountain King to the movingly simple Solveig’s Song. The suite From Holberg’s Time takes us back to Baroque style and traditions with irresistible melodic charm. Wedding Day at Troldhaugen was a wedding anniversary present for Nina, Grieg’s wife, and the sprightly Norwegian Dances are a precursor to the larger-scale Symphonic Dances (available on VOX-NX-3038CD). These classic VOX recordings by Maurice Abravanel and the Utah Symphony Orchestra were originally issued in 1976 and have been newly remastered from the original tapes. The Elite Recordings for VOX by legendary producers Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz are considered by audiophiles to be amongst the finest sounding examples of orchestral recordings.