BaL 14.02.15 - Ravel: Piano Concerto in G

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  • Barbirollians
    Full Member
    • Nov 2010
    • 11671

    #16
    There are a hatful of Argerich recordings and I suspect I have all of them but the original LSO/Abbado has never been surpassed.

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    • visualnickmos
      Full Member
      • Nov 2010
      • 3609

      #17
      I have Pascal Rogé with Charles Dutoit, and the Montreal ..... excellent recording and playing.

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      • Bryn
        Banned
        • Mar 2007
        • 24688

        #18
        Not really what you might call a front runner but the Philip Fowke/LPO/Serge Baudo appears to still be available, even if not officially in the current catalogue.




        It's been re-issued in various forms over the years.

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        • Black Swan

          #19
          Originally posted by Barbirollians View Post
          There are a hatful of Argerich recordings and I suspect I have all of them but the original LSO/Abbado has never been surpassed.
          Same here for me. I have all the Argerich recordings and find I need no other. LSO/Abbado/Argerich the top of the list.

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          • makropulos
            Full Member
            • Nov 2010
            • 1669

            #20
            Originally posted by Barbirollians View Post
            There are a hatful of Argerich recordings and I suspect I have all of them but the original LSO/Abbado has never been surpassed.
            By "original LSO" do you mean the one with the LSO made in 1984 or the earlier DG recording with the Berlin PO, made in 1967? - both are with Abbado, both are on DG and I suspect they get confused sometimes...

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            • Nick Armstrong
              Host
              • Nov 2010
              • 26524

              #21
              Originally posted by Maclintick View Post
              Cali, that slight delay in the right-hand you object to is truly HIPP. Here's Marguerite Long shortly after the G major concerto's premiere...

              Marguerite Long (1874-1966) plays Ravel Piano Concerto II Pde.F-Branco Rec.1932It was assumed that this recording was a conducted by the composer at very lon...


              Many pianists of that vintage & later employ the same technique to either expressive or ruinous effect, according to one's personal predilection, & for me it doesn't disqualify Michelangeli/Philharmonia/Gracis from equal honours with Argerich/BPO/Abbado, which enjoys more refined DG sound. Samson/OSCC/Cluytens is also required listening, despite being holed below-the-waterline by agogic hesitations in the adagio & the failure of OSCC woodwind to agree on tuning, but is eclipsed by the blistering account of the Left Hand Concerto with which it's coupled -- that second cadenza !


              A regular broadcaster on France-Musique is Philippe Cassard, no mean pianist himself (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Cassard - only in French, but the names in his track record speak for themselves). He is often very damning about the Marguerite Long 'school' of playing, and in particular her playing of Ravel. It's a fashion thing, I suppose... but I do agree about the split hands. Perhaps it's like portamento for string players? Very much of its era and awfully HIPP but ...
              "...the isle is full of noises,
              Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
              Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
              Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."

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              • Alison
                Full Member
                • Nov 2010
                • 6455

                #22
                The Benjamin Grosvenor version is pretty impressive though I didn't have a big craze on it upon purchase unlike the Yundi Li and Bavouzet versions. Tortelier really is a fine accompanist on the Chandos disc.

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                • Nick Armstrong
                  Host
                  • Nov 2010
                  • 26524

                  #23
                  Originally posted by Alison View Post
                  The Benjamin Grosvenor version is pretty impressive though I didn't have a big craze on it upon purchase unlike the Yundi Li and Bavouzet versions. Tortelier really is a fine accompanist on the Chandos disc.
                  How interesting you too pick those two out, Alison. I couldn't stop listening to the Yundi Lee / Ozawa slow movement - wonderfully paced and phrased. Not for the first time we are in accord!
                  "...the isle is full of noises,
                  Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
                  Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
                  Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."

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                  • Alison
                    Full Member
                    • Nov 2010
                    • 6455

                    #24
                    Originally posted by Caliban View Post
                    How interesting you too pick those two out, Alison. I couldn't stop listening to the Yundi Lee / Ozawa slow movement - wonderfully paced and phrased. Not for the first time we are in accord!
                    Well, not so surprising when we have both received a similar musical education at the Royal Festival Hall !
                    Last edited by Alison; 07-02-15, 18:20.

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                    • Ferretfancy
                      Full Member
                      • Nov 2010
                      • 3487

                      #25
                      Michelangeli for me. There's a passage of quiet trills towards the end of the first movement, where he manages the almost impossible and makes them sound like glissandi, absolutely gliding from one note to the next. Unsurpassed.

                      I first heard this concerto on the Jacqueline Blancard recording with Ansermet, taking it out of a library and "learning" it. Last year I heard it again after an interval of at least 50 years, and I'm sorry to say that it really isn't very good!

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                      • Nick Armstrong
                        Host
                        • Nov 2010
                        • 26524

                        #26
                        Originally posted by Alison View Post
                        Well, not so surprising when we both received a similar musical education at the Royal Festival Hall !
                        Do you mean you were at that hammer-fisted German's performance? Can you remember who it was? (maybe PM, if so - might be legally safer!)
                        "...the isle is full of noises,
                        Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
                        Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
                        Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."

                        Comment

                        • Alison
                          Full Member
                          • Nov 2010
                          • 6455

                          #27
                          Originally posted by Caliban View Post
                          Do you mean you were at that hammer-fisted German's performance? Can you remember who it was? (maybe PM, if so - might be legally safer!)
                          No, I mean our attendance at LPO concerts (and others) down the years has given us a certain taste for what's good and what's not quite so good ....

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                          • Nick Armstrong
                            Host
                            • Nov 2010
                            • 26524

                            #28
                            Originally posted by Alison View Post
                            No, I mean our attendance at LPO concerts (and others) down the years has given us a certain taste for what's good and what's not quite so good ....
                            Quite so !

                            Cheating on them on Thursday, however, to hear what Dame Mitsuko makes of it!
                            "...the isle is full of noises,
                            Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
                            Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
                            Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."

                            Comment

                            • Barbirollians
                              Full Member
                              • Nov 2010
                              • 11671

                              #29
                              I mean the 1960s recording apologies if I have mixed up the orchestras .i had it originally on. DG Galleria release coupled with her extraordinary Gaspard and Sonatine

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                              • mikealdren
                                Full Member
                                • Nov 2010
                                • 1199

                                #30
                                Originally posted by Caliban View Post
                                I think I'm right in recalling that in their 2011 programme on the piece, the French critics chose 'blind' the Argerich/BPO/Abbado performance as the favourite. I do remember they gave short shrift to the Michelangeli/Gracis version which I found gratifying as I've never liked it and always found its status as a 'towering classic of the gramophone' incomprehensible.
                                It's all a matter of taste I suppose, these are the two version that I have so I've just compared them, for me Argerich is fine and well recorded for 1967 but Michelangeli is very special. Just listening to the opening of the slow movement, within the opening two bars Michelangali has established am amazing atmosphere while Argerich simply plays the notes, his touch is quite extraordinary and the orchestra pick up the whole emotional stillness. Try it and see how you feel.

                                Mike

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