Maurice Ravel Piano Works Andre Laplante

Keigo Mukawa was born in Aichi, Japan in 1993, took up the piano at the age of 3. During his second year of studies at the Tokyo University of the Arts in 2014, he was unanimously admitted to the Paris Conservatoire, where he has awarded a master degree in 2019, and is currently continuing his studies in fortepiano and is pursuing an artist diploma in piano.

Clear, precise music featuring rhythmic refinement as free as it is polished, with vibrations that are, in the final analysis, more morbid than conquering, a series of enchantments idealising the violin as the charming bard of the inexpressible. A new form of Expressionism and a timeless challenge for performers.

Canadian pianist Jean-Philippe Sylvestre performs works for piano by Maurice Ravel, recorded on an Erard piano built in 1854. "The concept and performance of a work are affected by the instrument one plays," says Jean-Philippe Sylvestre. "To bring out the Baroque character of two pieces, Le Tombeau de Couperin and Menuet sur le nom de Haydn, I wanted a piano with harpsichord-like articulation and sonority.

Few pianists can claim a more impressive recording debut than Alexander Krichel’s masterful Liszt recital in 2011 (Telos/Profil). It was followed by two concerto releases, the first offering works by Mozart, Hummel and Chopin and a second with Rachmaninov’s Second Concerto and the Moments musicaux (both Sony Classical) as well as another solo disc with a mixed Romantic programme. All these suggest a steady career trajectory and artistic growth unencumbered by external pressures. Krichel, a Hamburg native who turns 28 this year, has now released an all-Ravel disc, replete with shimmering surfaces and gossamer textures beautifully captured by the Sony engineers.

This is indeed an astonishing debut by the young Dutch pianist Hannes Minnaar. His virtuosity needs no comments. His musical intelligence, sense of line and structure, delicacy, subtlety of texture and discipline set him apart. His Ravel is muscular and sparkling, his Rachmaninov glowing, meticulous and fervent.

Jose Iturbi’s father built and tuned pianos as a hobby so the young José had access to an instrument from a very early age. He was one of four children and his sister Amparo (1899–1969) also had a career as a pianist. At the age of eleven Iturbi was studying piano at the Valencia Conservatory with Joaquín Malats, a friend of Albéniz.

Almost every pianist, it seems, wants to record Ravel, but virtually all of them have overlooked a treasure trove of music for solo piano: the composer’s short score for Daphnis et Chloé. Some parts of it are unplayable by a single pair of hands, but with judicious arrangement this working draft can be mined for diamonds. Only a handful of musicians have made their own suites for solo piano; here the Lithuanian pianist Indre Petrauskaite, carefully observing Ravel’s original textures, has produced something new: a 40-minute concert suite of unsuspected Ravel for solo piano that also respects the dramatic outline of the original ballet.

„Pavane pour une infante défunte“, an early work, takes us into the world of dance that perfumes the musical world of Ravel. „Gaspard de la nuit“ in the French Romantic tradition, is a triptych inspired by three of Aloysius Bertrand's prose-ballads: Ondine, the water nymph; Le Gibet (Gallows), paints a gruesome picture of „a bell tolling from the walls of a city, beneath the skyline, and the body of a hanged man, reddened by the setting sun“; Scarbo, depicts the night-time mischief of a mocking dwarf. We return to the dance with the bold‚ “Valses nobles et sentimentales“, a series of waltzes written in 1911. Finally, „Ma Mère l'Oye“ (Mother Goose), shows Ravel's affection for his childhood days. Vanessa Wagner brings out the modernity of these scores, their sudden movements of violence, their moments of ineffable sweetness. She plays with rigour, intensity and a velvet touch.

Legendary pianist Samson François conjures exciting readings of works by Ravel. His performances display his full artistry and masterful technique, exposing the works’ rich colors. This audiophile download is an absolute essential.