BaL 25.11.23 - Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin

[Ein Heldenleben]

I guess one or two here will have switched off after Flora says that piano recording technology has improved considerably since Gieseking ‘54!

Well that 60’s Monique Hass wasn’t either well recorded or played.
I think this piece is one of the ultimate tests of piano touch, tone technique, piano preparation and recording engineer.
Grosvenor palpably the best so far but I was interrupted. Have we heard Osborne yet ?

[Pulcinella]

Well that 60’s Monique Hass wasn’t either well recorded or played.
I think this piece is one of the ultimate tests of piano touch, tone technique, piano preparation and recording engineer.
Grosvenor palpably the best so far but I was interrupted. Have we heard Osborne yet ?

Yes, but just despatched, as was Grosvenor.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Perianes played the Menuet absolutely beautifully, ditto Lortie - lots of pedal (or reverb ) though.Sorry but I think Hewitt is a tad dull.

[Ein Heldenleben]

So Perianes shades it . I didn’t think the piano sound in the Perianes Toccata that outstanding tbh. But both very fine performances.

[HighlandDougie]

The French Radio Critiques chose a version by a pianist I rather like - Bertrand Chamayou - which, as is often the case with BaL versus that programme, wasn't even mentioned. Not the finest of recording qualities - a bit reverberant à la Perianes - but worth a punt if one should see his complete Ravel (on 2 CDs) cheap. Agree with EA on Angela Hewitt, though - all a bit prim. And where on earth did Flora W dredge 'natty' from as a descriptor? Ravel is certainly not my idea of "nattiness".

[Alison]

Not sure I would call Grosvenors account ‘brash’. But then I might not describe Perianes as ‘natty’.

[richardfinegold]

I was looking for a streaming version came across Stephanie Shih-yu Cheng. I hadn’t heard the Piano Version for a while. I generally enjoyed this but In the last movement I seemed to be more conscious of the bar lines than in the preceding movements
on my shelves I have Entremont and Casasadesus, time to dust them off

[Retune]

The French Radio Critiques chose a version by a pianist I rather like - Bertrand Chamayou - which, as is often the case with BaL versus that programme, wasn't even mentioned. Not the finest of recording qualities - a bit reverberant à la Perianes - but worth a punt if one should see his complete Ravel (on 2 CDs) cheap. Agree with EA on Angela Hewitt, though - all a bit prim. And where on earth did Flora W dredge 'natty' from as a descriptor? Ravel is certainly not my idea of "nattiness".

Chamayou's version is also on the Warner 21 CD Ravel 'Complete Works' box, which can be found for £30 today.

[Master Jacques]

Chamayou's version is also on the Warner 21 CD Ravel 'Complete Works' box, which can be found for £30 today.

I've not heard Chamayou, and will certainly put it on my mental shopping list. Having listened to this morning's choices, I got out my Pascal Rogé Decca set to remind myself what I'd missed in the Lortie and Perianes versions - i.e. wit, energy and personality. The smooth suavity and technical infallibility of these newer versions does not compete, for me. I agree with those posters who've hinted that Hewitt's recording exhibits all the life of a stuffed hamster.

[Ein Heldenleben]

The French Radio Critiques chose a version by a pianist I rather like - Bertrand Chamayou - which, as is often the case with BaL versus that programme, wasn't even mentioned. Not the finest of recording qualities - a bit reverberant à la Perianes - but worth a punt if one should see his complete Ravel (on 2 CDs) cheap. Agree with EA on Angela Hewitt, though - all a bit prim. And where on earth did Flora W dredge 'natty' from as a descriptor? Ravel is certainly not my idea of "nattiness".

Natty is the wrong word. It’s a kind of intensely defined or precise romanticism that’s called for maybe.

[Pulcinella]

Natty is the wrong word. It’s a kind of intensely defined or precise romanticism that’s called for maybe.

Ravel could possibly be described as having been a natty dresser, but the word certainly doesn't seem appropriate for his music.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I've not heard Chamayou, and will certainly put it on my mental shopping list. Having listened to this morning's choices, I got out my Pascal Rogé Decca set to remind myself what I'd missed in the Lortie and Perianes versions - i.e. wit, energy and personality. The smooth suavity and technical infallibility of these newer versions does not compete, for me. I agree with those posters who've hinted that Hewitt's recording exhibits all the life of a stuffed hamster.

Off - topic but as a vocal connoisseur I would be interested to hear what you think about the Van Stada / Da Costa Dichterliebe played at about 09.35. It’s one of the weirdest things I’ve heard but strangely compelling. I would love to be in a Wigmore Hall setting to see the audience reaction. Fischer- Dieskau and Gerald it ain’t…

[Pulcinella]

Chamayou's version is also on the Warner 21 CD Ravel 'Complete Works' box, which can be found for £30 today.

Chamayou is the artist featured in the BBC MM Christmas 2023 issue's Rewind feature.
Finest moment: Messiaen (Vingt regards)
Fondest memory: Ravel (Complete piano works)
Like another go at: Liszt (Transcendental studies)

[MickyD]

Did Bavouzet get a mention? He plays on a nice sounding 1901 Steinway.

[Master Jacques]

Off - topic but as a vocal connoisseur I would be interested to hear what you think about the Van Stada / Da Costa Dichterliebe played at about 09.35. It’s one of the weirdest things I’ve heard but strangely compelling. I would love to be in a Wigmore Hall setting to see the audience reaction. Fischer- Dieskau and Gerald it ain’t…

I'd echo your phrase "strangely compelling", for sure. My feeling is, that listening to very early cylinder recordings often misleads researchers, who tend to ignore the fact that these were usually made of venerated older singers, past their prime. What's undoubtedly right, is the portamento - and most of all, the bel canto focus on the words dictating tonal variation and the shaping of phrases - that felt spot on, something it would be wonderful to build on, though perhaps with firmer and more tonally alluring voices than Koen van Stade today.