Product Overview
Gordon Fergus-Thompson - Ravel: Complete Music For Solo Piano (CD DOUBLE (SLIMLINE CASE)) Recorded for the ASV label in 1990, this collection of Ravel's piano music has never previously been released complete. Now reissued for the first time in more than a decade, this set presents not the kind of coolly objective view of the fastidious composer-craftsman that modern recordings have accustomed us to, but more of a poet in sound and in touch with his Basque origins. The piano was for Ravel the principal medium of musical thought, and his approach to the instrument was at once lavish and precise. Lisztianvirtuosity is entwined with an antique spirit of French dance in both the darkly Impressionist Gaspard de la nuitand the much gentler strains of the Valsesnobles et sentimentales. Likewise Jeuxd'eautakes its inspiration from a Lisztiantemplate while Le tombeaude Couperinpays deeply affectionate tribute both to friends killed in the First World War and to an imagined Eden of formal manners and gentility, presumed lost forever. Although his repertoire ranges from Bach to Webern, Gordon Fergus-Thompson has won particular renown as a Franco-Russian specialist in command of the most technically challenging repertoire by the likes of Balakirev. Following the reissue of his complete Scriabin recordings, and his renownedDebussy, Eloquence brings back another pair of albums which find the pianist in his element: rhythmically free yet in complete control of Ravel's fastidiously exacting scores; timbrallyrefined yet abandoned to the Viennese excess of La valseas well as the blurred, dream-like moods of the Miroirs. 'Fergus-Thompson sounds sparkier and freer, with a gentler flow of tone and more space in the recording There's no problem, atleast, about brilliance of effect. The finale of the Sonatinefinds more vigourand purpose, and some of the minor pieces have an attractive light touch.' BBC Music Magazine 'Fergus-Thompson [ ] confirms his calibreand status as a distinguished, most individual Francophile Even the most experienced Ravelianswill find themselves returning to these finely recorded accounts for a special and magical enlightenment.' Gramophone, October 1993 Tracklistings: MAURICE RAVEL (1875 1937) Complete Music for Solo Piano CD 1 1 8 ValsesNobles et Sentimentales, M.61 9 11 Gaspard de la Nuit, M.55 12 Jeuxd'eau 13 18 Le Tombeaude Couperin, M.68 CD 2 1 Prélude 2 6 Miroirs, M.43 7 Menuetsur le nom de Haydn 8 Menuetantique 9 Sérénadegrotesque 10 12 Sonatine, M.40 13 ì la manière de Borodine 14 ì la manière de Chabrier 15 Pavane pour uneinfant défunte Gordon Fergus-Thompson,piano
