Maurice Ravel: Complete Piano Works

• Main performer: Georges Pludermacher
• Booklet languages: English, French
• Time: 151:34
• Release Date: 2006

Review

In this two-disc set of Ravel's piano music, French pianist Georges Pludermacher has arranged the works into two distinct programs, each conceived as an homage to a different artist. The first disc contains mostly the virtuoso works -- Jeux d'eau, Miroirs, and, above all, Gaspard de la nuit -- and is dedicated to Jacques Février, Pludermacher's teacher and Ravel's favorite pianist. Technically, Pludermacher is not quite up to the level of such super virtuosos as Argerich or Thibaudet, but since he learned from Février the secrets of Ravel's keyboard writing, his performances have immense authority. Thus, though Pludermacher may not be able to rip through "Scarbo" with the amazing audacity of Argerich, his dry but firm touch, clear but full sonorities, and cool but warm tone bring out the quintessential French qualities of the music as well as such masters as Gieseking or Casadesus.

The second disc is dedicated to modern ballet master George Balanchine and thus aptly contains mostly stylized dance music: Le tombeau de Couperin, Valses nobles et sentimentales and, naturally, La Valse in its original piano solo form. Here, Pludermacher is more in his element, bouncing and bounding over the beats to deliver performances as light and lively as the best ever recorded. Plus his tone and touch are ideal in these works, brightening the textures of the Fugue from Le tombeau de Couperin and clarifying the climax of La Valse. Recorded live in the Reims Conservatoire on a lovely Stephen Paulello piano, the sound here is clear, strong, and very immediate -- especially the applause before the encores. ~ James Leonard, Rovi

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Maurice Ravel	Pavane pour une infante défunte, for piano (or orchestra)	6:35
Maurice Ravel	Prélude, for piano	1:18
Maurice Ravel	Jeux d'eau, for piano	5:33
Maurice Ravel	Chanson de la mariée, song for voice & piano (Mélodies popularies grecques No. 1)	1:59
Maurice Ravel	À la manière de. . . , for piano	1:55
Maurice Ravel	Miroirs, for piano (or orchestra)	26:19
Maurice Ravel	Menuet antique, for piano (or orchestra)	6:48
Maurice Ravel	Gaspard de la nuit, for piano	21:42
Maurice Ravel	Le tombeau de Couperin, for piano (Toccata (bis))	4:24
Maurice Ravel	Le tombeau de Couperin, for piano	25:08
Maurice Ravel	Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn, for piano	2:04
Maurice Ravel	Sonatine for piano in F sharp minor	11:46
Maurice Ravel	Valses (8) nobles et sentimentales, for piano (or orchestra)	15:35
Maurice Ravel	Valse for piano in D major	13:42
Maurice Ravel	Gaspard de la nuit, for piano (Ondine (bis))	6:46

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