{"id":31427,"date":"2015-10-25T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2015-10-25T13:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=31427"},"modified":"2015-10-25T09:16:28","modified_gmt":"2015-10-25T13:16:28","slug":"cd-review-a-pianist-worthy-of-maurice-ravels-140th-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2015\/10\/25\/cd-review-a-pianist-worthy-of-maurice-ravels-140th-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"CD REVIEW | A Gift Worthy of Maurice Ravel\u2019s 140th Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"321132\"<\/h3>\n

The Complete Piano Works of Maurice Ravel. Hinrich Alpers. Honens. 152 minutes.<\/span> 2 CDs.<\/span><\/h3>\n

The German pianist who won the Honens Piano Competition<\/a> nearly 10 years ago sat down at the Banff Centre right around what would have been French composer Maurice Ravel\u2019s 140th<\/sup> birthday last spring to record all of his works for solo piano. The results, just released on Honens\u2019 own recording label, are very impressive.<\/p>\n

We categorize Ravel (1875-1937) as an Impressionist composer, same as Claude Debussy, but they treat the building blocks of their artform as differently as did, say,<\/span> painters Claude Monet and Edgar Degas. Ravel\u2019s music is about shimmering surfaces underpinned by elaborate contrapuntal writing. There is a lot of structure here, but it needs to become invisible as the tone-paintings unfold.<\/span> Debussy rarely acknowledged the past in his music. Through their structure, however, Ravel\u2019s works are constantly referencing the past, while exploring new ways of capturing imagery in music.<\/p>\n

The first challenges to overcome in Ravel are the profusions of notes and handfuls of chords, seemingly written to stymy all but the most determined virtuoso. Two sets of pieces, Miroirs<\/i>, written in 1905, and Gaspard de la nuit<\/i>, from 1908, are especially challenging.<\/p>\n

Ravel\u2019s scores are layered so that, if the interpreter follows the composers instructions, each piece comes out with a natural shape and sense of movement. When a particularly strong-minded artist comes along, they can find ways of adding even more shades of colour and depths of texture to the sound. The current gold-standard is probably French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, whose interpretations of the French Impressionists are mesmerizing.<\/p>\n

But Alpers\u2019 playing is very compelling, as well. There is a silky quality to the German\u2019s approach. The edges are smooth, but somehow all the textures survive. And the surfaces really do shimmer, so much so that the music often sounds downright erotic. The sense of narrative tension is ever-present. And all of it is performed with absolute assurance and grace, no doubt helped by the fine German-made Steinway piano in residence at the Banff Centre.<\/p>\n

\"WebAlp\"
Pianist Hinrich Alpers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s nice to get a complete set of works, so we can also hear the ones that are rarely recorded or performed, like the short, delicate Minuet Ravel wrote to celebrate the centennial of Joseph Haydn\u2019s death in 1909. We also get the fearsome solo-piano version of La valse<\/i>, the composer\u2019s harrowing post-Great War farewell to the Austro-Hungarian ballroom.<\/p>\n

This album takes the completist\u2019s aesthetic one step further, recording homages to Ravel by six other composers, four of whom were written for Alpers.<\/p>\n

There is so much technical challenge and thematic meat in Ravel\u2019s pieces that all of these companion works feel like pale shadows in comparison, especially placed on the second CD, right after La valse<\/i>.<\/span> These homages, unintentionally I think, end up showcasing the richness of the original and the poverty of what remains when you try to reference a whole aesthetic with just a handful of notes and chords.<\/p>\n

The strongest of the new pieces is The Galoshes of August<\/i> (the French title is grammatically wrong in the printed materials that came with the CD) by British composer Benedict Mason. It turns out that he was not aiming to be Ravel-like, but was writing a present for his pianist friend in honour of a birthday.<\/p>\n

If you like the music of Ravel, this two-disc album is a must-listen. Naxos, the album\u2019s distributor, has made most of the tracks available individually on YouTube, so it\u2019s easy to go find a sample. Do give it a try.<\/p>\n

Here is Alpers\u2019 fabulous rendition of \u201cUne barque sur l\u2019oc\u00e9an,\u201d from Miroirs<\/i>:<\/p>\n