Ravel: The Complete Solo Piano Works (2CD)

Having loved Ravel since childhood, Seong-Jin Cho has chosen to mark the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth by recording his complete solo piano music and the two concertos. 

Seong-Jin Cho has always felt a close connection with the French piano literature, and found himself fully immersed in Ravel while studying at the Paris Conservatoire. Discussing the challenges of the solo works, he points to the composer’s orchestral sound and meticulous attention to detail. “Ravel really knew what he wanted, so I try to follow his specific markings,” he says. “Miroirs, for example, is incredibly technically demanding. It’s so sensitive and dramatic, full of imagination and colour – it’s almost impossible to apply every marking, but I try my best!”

Recent reviews suggest he knows exactly how to realise Ravel’s wishes. Following a recital in Madrid in March, Scherzo hailed Cho as “perhaps the finest Ravel interpreter of our time”, while after his Edinburgh Festival recital, The Scotsman wrote, “With what seemed like impossibly perfect precision, the first half of all Ravel heard Cho in a contrasting and extensive range of colour, coupled with a sense of flow that allowed the music to breathe with ease and warmth.”

Together, these recordings constitute a strong artistic statement on Ravel from Seong-Jin Cho. “This is the first time I’ve either performed or recorded a single composer’s complete works,” he notes. “I certainly understand Ravel with much more depth than before and have hugely enjoyed immersing myself in the many different aspects of his music.”

TRACK LIST

RAVEL
Complete Solo Piano Works

1. Sérénade grotesque, M. 5
2. Menuet antique, M. 7
3. Pavane pour une infante défunte, M. 19
4. Jeux d'eau, M. 30
5. Sonatine, M. 40
6. Miroirs, M. 43
7. Gaspard de la nuit, M. 55
8. Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn, M. 58
9. Valses nobles et sentimentales, M. 61
10. Prélude, M. 65
11. À la manière de Borodine, M. 63/1
12. À la manière de Chabrier, M. 63/2
13. Le tombeau de Couperin, M. 68

ARTISTS

Seong-Jin Cho, piano