Customer Reviews

Ravel: Piano Concertos; Debussy: Fantasie for Piano & Orchestra

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Please excuse me if my english is not perfect. This version of the second movement of the G concerto by Anne Queffélec is my prefered one. I have also the Christian Zimmerman's version and it is very good, all over, but I knew Anne Queffélec's version first (in the 70's, my first hearing of this piece of music) and I prefer it.

I read a very good critic about it in the past, and the quietness is not a handicap for me in this case ; I don't see that any emotion is missing. I see it as an atmosphere filled with purity and I get goose bumps.

I know that one can feel attached to the first version heard of a particular piece of music, but I still think this version is worth the price for other people even if, personally, I'm attached to it.

On the contrary, I have difficulties to get goose bumps with Zimmerman's version, although technically and sonically excellent, and this is a striking sign that emotion is not handicaped here. MY emotions jump out of my skin with Queffélec's version.

Both dics are really worth the price.

I gave 4 stars even if I concentrated my opinion on one movement only, wich is, for me, the best.

This mid-1980s recording features French pianist Anne Queffelec in the music for piano and orchestra by two preeminent French composers, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Queffelec is joined by the Strasbourg orchestra led by Alain Lombard for the two Ravel concerti and by the better known Armin Jordan and the Monte Carlo Opera Orchestra in the early Debussy work.

This is a solid performance. I thought Queffelec shows nicely here, with effective, vivacious and skilled playing throughout the CD. The orchestra playing in Ravel's G-major Piano Concerto (1931) and the shorter one-movement Left-hand Piano Concerto (1930) is also good. While I have many Armin Jordan works and like some of them very much, his orchestra's accompaniment in Debussy's Fantaisie for piano & orchestra (1890) is a bit mushy. This is a work I have liked for decades and I bought the CD specifically to get a modern recording of it, but this interpretation didn't please like the work always has, which I attribute to somewhat sloppy orchestra playing. I don't want to exaggerate - the performance is OK, with Queffelec playing her part with grace - but it isn't the end-all for the piece. (If anyone knows of an excellent performance of the Fantaisie, please drop a comment below.)

The disc is facing some stiff competition. The Left-hand concerto has some outstanding performances by Michel Beroff/Claudio Abbado and a propulsive Casadesus/Eugene Ormandy recording and there are many very good G-major concerti out there. That, combined with somewhat cloaked early digital sound, leads me to downgrade it to 4 stars. It's a good but not flawless release.

I want to hear this because the NY Times critic in his book gave it his top recommendation for the Ravel piano concertos. Really? There is a fantastic recording of the Ravel by Michelangeli on EMI. He is fantastic; EMI is as dry and brittle souding as ever. (Sigh).

Unfortunately, I've received two copies that both show "Apex Ravel, Piano Concertos Debussy Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra" but the music is really Mozart's Requiem. So, sellers, do yourselves a favor and listen for piano music. If it is, well it might be. If there is not - it's one for the garbage can. Buyers beware. When you get your disk listen to it right away.