After her triumphant Schumann recording, rising violin star Lena Neudauer returns to tackle the incredibly demanding violin works of Maurice Ravel. Accompanied by Paul Rivinius on piano and alongside guest cellist Julian Steckel, Neudauer presents rare and popular works alike, creating a true image of a master.

Gaspard de la nuit, Maurice Ravel’s highly imagistic and structured musical masterpiece, is like a realistic dream, a lucid world of darkness and terror, evoked through refinement and detail. The intense atmosphere and mood of Miroirs (Mirrors) suggests reflections of things or objects; in this case those of night moths, birds, a boat on the ocean, a Spanish song with imitation of guitars and the sounding of bells in a valley. Pavane pour une Enfante defunte has achieved great popularity despite Ravel’s own criticism of its simplicity. Carlo Grante is one of today's most active and popular concert and recording pianists, with a discography currently exceeding fifty CDs. His large repertoire ranges from Scarlatti to Clementi, Liszt and Schumann, and to 20th c. composers Godowsky, Busoni and Sorabji. “Carlo Grante's recital systematically demonstrated technical ability, but it was a prowess that went beyond muscle and speed. Here was not just attractive color but color with a purpose.” “…difficult passages were made not to sound difficult at all.” (New York Times)

Composed between 1929 and 1931, Ravel's two piano concertos reflect his enthusiasm for jazz, though one that was thoroughly absorbed into his own idiom. The Concerto in G major, originally conceived as a Basque rhapsody, is lightly scored but sports a vivacious percussion section, galvanizing motor rhythms and a slow movement of astonishing beauty. The Concerto for the Left Hand, commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein who had lost his right arm in the First World War, is a single movement tour de force, as is Tzigane, a gypsy violin showpiece of dazzling virtuosity.

Classical Music

This album gives an interesting overview of Ravel's orchestral output, with a mixed programme of works from different periods of his career. The outstanding soloists are soprano Arleen Aug�r and violinist Pina Carmirelli; conductor Ernest Bour presents wonderfully nuanced performances. Some of Ravel's most famous pieces are featured, including a beautiful interpretation of his song cycle Sheherazade, which tells the story of the narrator of The Arabian Nights. Another notable inclusion is Daphnis et Chloe Suites 1 and 2. Daphnis et Chloe began as a one act ballet by Ravel, and was later adapted by the composer into the two Suites heard here. This album is part of a new re-release series (Century Classics) consisting of SWR music bestsellers. The series is competitively priced, optically highly attractive and contains acclaimed SWR recordings mostly of the SWR orchestras and their chief conductors.

Evgeni Koroliov isn't the kind of musician who prefers to concentrate on previously unrecorded music. His specialty lies in discovering something new in well-known works. This is particularly true in this collection of pieces by Maurice Ravel. He immerses himsel fin the music without any extravagance, adding nothing to the score. Nevertheless, Koroliov always manages to make the music sound fresh to our ears. In Ma Mere l'Oye, Ljupka Hadzigeorgieva harmoniously completes this process of re-creation.

This album is the fifth and final installment of Maurice Ravel's Orchestral Works, bringing to a close the highly acclaimed cycle by the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart and its chief conductor Stephane Deneve. Ravel's opera L'enfant et les sortileges is the second of his two operas and is considered a neglected masterpiece. The libretto is by the famous French author Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette.

Almost every pianist, it seems, wants to record Ravel, but virtually all of them have overlooked a treasure trove of music for solo piano: the composer's short score for Daphnis et Chlo�. Some parts of it are unplayable by a single pair of hands, but with judicious arrangement this working draft can be mined for diamonds. Only a handful of musicians have made their own suites for solo piano; here the Lithuanian pianist Indre Petrauskaite, carefully observing Ravel's original textures, has produced something new: a 40-minute concert suite of unsuspected Ravel for solo piano that also respects the dramatic outline of the original ballet. The other, more familiar works here extend the ideas of antiquity and transcription. Indre Petrauskaite recently performed this programme at City University of London for the completion of her DMA degree.

Piano Recital: Crossan, Richard - RAVEL, M. / SCOTT, C. / DE

In Maurice Ravel's piano output, his compositional development can be traced easily: from the impressionistic Jeux d'eau from 1901 to Le tombeau de Couperin, written between 1914 and 1917, which has neoclassical echoes. The Spanish pianist Alfonso Gomez congenially traces the fascinating development in these and other works. Alfonso Gómez began to play the piano at the age of five. He studied at the Conservatory of Vitoria-Gasteiz with professor Albert Nieto, where he graduated with highest honours. He furthered his studies with professor Aquiles delle Vigne, a pupil of Claudio Arrau, at the Rotterdam Conservatory (Holland), which he concluded with the highest marks. After that he studied under professor Tibor Szász at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg (Germany), where he graduated his “Konzertexamen” with distinction. Gómez’ performances and recordings have been broadcasted on numerous occasions on the radio and TV in Europe and Asia. Gómez is currently visiting professor at the University of Music Freiburg and associate professor at the State University of Music and the Performing Arts Stuttgart.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Countless of Maurice Ravel's works most impressively reveal that there is more of the present living in the past and past in the present than we imagine. Bego�a Uriarte: piano / Karl-Hermann Mrongovius: piano.