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A Sense of Flow
GERALD FENECH convincingly recommends South Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho's new recording for Deutsche Grammophon of Maurice Ravel's concertos
'... caressing warmth and spontaneous creativity.'
The Piano Concerto in G was Maurice Ravel's penultimate composition. He had contemplated such a work based on Baroque themes in 1906 and returned to the idea in 1913, but abandoned work on the piece in 1914. Fifteen years later, Ravel decided to continue where he had left off and turned to the idea of writing a piano concerto. He began sketching it in 1929 but throughout his career he had been a slow, painstaking worker, and it was nearly three years before the concerto was finished.
He was obliged to put it to one side while he worked to a deadline to write another concerto, the D major for the left hand, commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein. During a tour of the United States in 1928, Ravel had been impressed by its jazz and negro spirituals and all these influences found their way into the concerto. The Baroque theme mooted in 1906 and 1913 was not wholly abandoned, and the outer movements include echoes of this music.
Listen — Ravel: Allegramente (Piano Concerto in G, M 83)
(4866820 track 1, 0:46-1:45) ℗ 2025 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH :
Ravel's wish was to premiere the concerto himself, but fatigue, poor health and pressure of work induced him to offer the first performance to Marguerite Long, a renowned pianist of his time. The premiere took place on 14 January 1932, with Ravel conducting the Lamoureux Orchestra, and the piece was enthusiastically received. Indeed, immediately after the premiere, Ravel and Long embarked on a European tour, playing the concerto in sixteen cities, which included Antwerp, Brussels, Vienna, Prague, London and Berlin, among others. The first North American performances were given on 22 April 1932 in Boston and Philadelphia.
Listen — Ravel: Adagio assai (Piano Concerto in G, M 83)
(4866820 track 2, 4:25-5:07) ℗ 2025 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH :
The Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major was composed between 1929 and 1930, concurrently with the G major. The commissioner, Paul Wittgenstein, was a concert pianist who had lost his right arm in the First World War. In preparing for composition, Ravel studied several pieces for one-handed piano by, among others, Saint-Saëns, Godowsky and Alkan. Wittgenstein gave the premiere on 5 January 1932, but the piece did not raise any eyebrows. Indeed at first, Wittgenstein did not take to its jazz-influenced rhythms and harmonies, but later he grew to like the work.
Unfortunately, by Ravel's death in 1937, this concerto was chopped and changed by several leading pianists, including the same Wittgenstein and Alfred Cortot, and this saddened Ravel no end. Today the concerto emerges as a powerful, original work, with a darker feeling than Ravel's other concerto for the instrument.
Listen — Ravel: Lento - (Piano Concerto in D, M 82)
(4866820 track 4, 3:18-4:13) ℗ 2025 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH :
It is in one movement, though in three sections. Ingeniously, the composer's writing for the soloist rarely gives a clue that but one hand is involved. The scoring makes much use of the rich, lower pitches of the orchestra, giving this unique piece a rather sombre but heroic mood.
The Korean star pianist Seong-Jin Cho aptly decided to open Ravel Year 2025 with his most ambitious project to date for DGG: a release of three albums, all dedicated to Ravel's music, between January and May this year. In this second release, Cho presents the composer's two piano concertos in interpretations that underline his status as one of the most elegant and accomplished virtuosi of our time - ten years after his triumph in the Chopin competition.
Indeed, these renditions have a sense of flow that allows Ravel's deftness of colour and contrasting moods to express themselves with caressing warmth and spontaneous creativity.
Listen — Ravel: Tempo I (Piano Concerto in D, M 82)
(4866820 track 6, 4:16-4:59) ℗ 2025 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH :
Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra are in fine form, and their support is not only wholly sympathetic but also emotionally responsive to all that Ravel desired.
Spaciously recorded and stylishly annotated, this is an issue that I am sure the composer would have wholeheartedly approved of. Convincingly recommended, especially to all Ravel aficionados.
Copyright © 3 March 2025
Gerald Fenech,
Gzira, Malta
