Thursday, September 13, 2012

Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Dutoit, Montreal Symphony Orchestra
"Ravel, Honneger, Francaix: Piano Concertos" (CD)

I have the honor of performing with the inimitable Leon Fleischer this next week. (Some of his recordings will be reviewed on this blog eventually.)  We will be playing Ravel's "Concerto for Left Hand" which has one of the more unique stories in musical lore.

In prepping for those rehearsals, I dug out a recording of the Left Hand Concerto for some study.

Jean-Yves Thibaudet looks like a former Gerber baby. His face is always placed prominently on whatever recording he's released and, in this instance, he has surrounded himself by an all-French cast to accomplish a recording of two prominent French piano concertos (and two lesser known ones.)

I always admire Ravel as an orchestrator.  It is impossible to listen to or play Ravel's music without losing track of where one instrument's duties end and another begins.  A fan of combining sounds in new ways, Ravel is regarded as one of the finest orchestrators to ever live and his treatment of a one-handed piano concerto is further proof of this.

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