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Ravel, Debussy & Massenet - Bavouzet, Tortelier, BBC Symphony Orchestra (2010)

Posted By: peotuvave
Ravel, Debussy & Massenet - Bavouzet, Tortelier, BBC Symphony Orchestra (2010)

Ravel, Debussy & Massenet - Bavouzet, Tortelier, BBC Symphony Orchestra (2010)
EAC Rip | Flac (Tracks + cue + log) | 1 CD | Full Scans | 235 MB
Genre: Classical | Label: Chandos | Catalog Number: 5084

The exclusive Chandos artist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is a master of this repertoire. This is his second concerto recording for the label, after his survey of the complete piano concertos by Bartók (CHAN10610) which was released in September to high acclaim and voted ‘Orchestral Choice of the Month’ by the magazine BBC Music. Bavouzet’s complete recording of the piano music by Debussy also scooped awards from BBC Music and Gramophone, which wrote: ‘This could well be the finest and most challenging of all Debussy piano cycles.’ On this new release, Bavouzet is accompanied by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Yan Pascal Tortelier, a conductor steeped in the French tradition and utterly at home in this repertoire. The result is a totally idiomatic performance of these French masterpieces for piano and orchestra.

Ravel’s light and brilliant Piano Concerto in G major is the intriguing result of a merging of classical models with the idioms and harmonies found in the popular jazz music of his day. At the time of composing this concerto, Ravel had just returned from his travels in the USA and the work is heavily influenced by the jazz music that he encountered there. However, in the second movement Mozart takes precedence, the piano’s theme closely modelled on the slow movement of his Clarinet Quintet; and Saint-Saëns’s sparkling semi-quavers fill the finale. The first performance of this work, given by Marguerite Long in Paris, was a great success, as was the European tour that followed. Another central piece is Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. The work was commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, a concert pianist who had lost his right arm during the First World War. Although at first Wittgenstein did not take to its jazz-influenced rhythms and harmonies, he grew to like the piece. Speaking of the Concerto, Ravel said that he had been determined to make it sound ‘no thinner’ than one for both hands and noted that in the middle of the piece ‘innumerable rhythmic patterns are introduced which become increasingly compact’ and that ‘this pulsation increases in intensity and frequency’ before the various elements ‘contend with one another until they are brusquely interrupted by a brutal conclusion’.

Also featured on this disc is Debussy’s Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra. Debussy was a highly self-critical composer and disowned or withdrew several of his early works; this piece was one of them. It was composed in 1889 – 90, and its premiere was scheduled, under Vincent d’Indy, almost as soon as the score was completed, but withdrawn by Debussy just as it was being put into rehearsal. The first performance did not take place until after Debussy’s death in 1918. Although the Fantaisie is the lone piano concerto by a composer regarded as one of the greatest among those who wrote for the piano, it remains one of Debussy's least frequently performed works even now. The work shows the influences of Fauré and Franck, and the piano does not figure as a solo instrument in the conventional concerto sense but rather as an equal partner with the orchestra, although the conventional three movements are still present.

Completing the disc in a unique manner are six pieces for solo piano by Massenet. Most famous for his operas and suites for orchestra, Massenet wrote a quantity of very charming piano pieces, of which Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has selected some of the best. The music is typical of its composer – highly tuneful, richly textured, and utterly compelling – and conjures an atmosphere which only a Frenchman could achieve.

Composer: Claude Debussy, Jules Massenet, Maurice Ravel
Performer: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
Conductor: Yan Pascal Tortelier
Orchestra/Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra

Reviews: This stunning and generous collection belongs right at the top of the heap in its respective repertoire. The Debussy is still a comparative rarity in concert if not on disc, a remarkable fact given that it's wholly gorgeous from first note to last. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's excellence as a Debussy pianist already has been acknowledged by just about everyone who has heard him, and needs no further advertisement here. The performance is outstanding, sensitive to every nuance, but also very French in its clear-eyed sensibility and understanding that focused rhythm and supple tempos prevent the music from turning excessively sentimental or blandly pretty. And in Tortelier, Bavouzet has a conductor who seconds him every step of the way. A similar sensibility informs these swift, razor-sharp, and utterly thrilling accounts of the two Ravel concertos. That for the left hand seldom has sounded so exciting, or in its jazzy central march section, so sinister. Listen to the bite that both soloist and orchestra bring to that descending scale theme, and notice the way Bavouzet shapes his cadenza so as to preserve the illusion of multiple parts played by multiple hands–all without slowing down at the tough passages. It's really an amazing performance by any standard. Even the dark opening, often merely murky on other recordings, has shape and urgency, the buildup to the initial entry of the piano creating incredible tension.

The G major concerto probably has more lousy performances to its credit than any other major 20th century piano concerto (save perhaps Gershwin's). Most of the time the problems start right from the solo entry in the first movement after the initial orchestral tutti, and the reason is easy to describe. This movement is in sonata form, and it has two basic tempos: "allegramente" for the opening, and "meno vivo" for the transitional material and second subject. Now obviously, "meno vivo" isn't all that much slower, but it's often taken at close to adagio by pianists anxious to wring "expression" out of the music at all costs. This is all the more absurd when we note that in the recapitulation, "meno vivo" briefly gives way to andante for the ethereal harp cadenza and horn solo. So Ravel's intentions aren't mysterious.

The best performances, then, to make a long story short, keep the tempo going with relative steadiness however much rubato and inflection happens along the way. Bavouzet gets it absolutely right, following up with one of the most songfully flowing and elegantly shaped accounts of the Adagio on disc, and concluding with an absolutely scorching finale. The Massenet encores are both novel and delightful, bringing the playing time up to a hefty 77 minutes. The SACD sonics are terrific, featuring well-nigh perfect balances and flattering the enthusiastic playing of the BBC Symphony (the real one, not the usual Philharmonic). This release is a "must" if you care about any of this music, and a first choice if you're newly in the market.

Tracklisting:

1. Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra by Claude Debussy
Performer: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano)
Conductor: Yan Pascal Tortelier
Orchestra/Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1889-1890; France

2. Valse folle by Jules Massenet
Performer: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1898; France

3. Toccata for Piano by Jules Massenet
Performer: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1892; France

4. Pièces (2) for Piano: no 2, Papillons blancs by Jules Massenet
Performer: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1907; France

5. Pièces (2) for Piano: no 1, Papillons noir by Jules Massenet
Performer: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1907; France

6. Impromptus (2) for Piano: no 2, Eau curante by Jules Massenet
Performer: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1896; France

7. Impromptus (2) for Piano: no 1, Eau dormante by Jules Massenet
Performer: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1896; France

8. Concerto for Piano in G major by Maurice Ravel
Performer: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano)
Conductor: Yan Pascal Tortelier
Orchestra/Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1929-1931; France

9. Concerto for Piano left hand in D major by Maurice Ravel
Performer: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Piano)
Conductor: Yan Pascal Tortelier
Orchestra/Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1929-1930; France

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 1 from 15. November 2010

EAC extraction logfile from 29. December 2010, 19:51

Various / Ravel, Debussy & Mazzenet - Bavouzet, Tortelier, BBC Symphony Orchestra

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End of status report

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 1 from 15. November 2010

EAC extraction logfile from 29. December 2010, 21:11

Various / Ravel, Debussy & Mazzenet - Bavouzet, Tortelier, BBC Symphony Orchestra

Used drive : PIONEER DVDRW DVR-K17B Adapter: 0 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
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Used output format : User Defined Encoder
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Quality : High
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Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
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1 | 0:00.00 | 8:03.18 | 0 | 36242
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3 | 16:14.04 | 7:52.34 | 73054 | 108487
4 | 24:06.38 | 8:13.00 | 108488 | 145462
5 | 32:19.38 | 8:55.00 | 145463 | 185587
6 | 41:14.38 | 3:58.00 | 185588 | 203437
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8 | 62:59.08 | 2:56.55 | 283433 | 296687
9 | 65:55.63 | 1:58.25 | 296688 | 305562
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11 | 69:59.38 | 1:36.35 | 314963 | 322197
12 | 71:35.73 | 2:44.40 | 322198 | 334537
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End of status report



Thanks to the original releaser