The only version I have is on vinyl (Entremont), and I havent had a turntable in years anyway. I've got an itch to reacquaint with the piece. What recording do you all recommend.

I find the piece far superior to his other concerto. The cadenza is one of the most powerful moments of all the repertoire, IMO. It frustrates me that its treated as a novelty piece and so rarely performed. I heard it once live, but it was a very poor performance.

Are the Fleisher or Graffman recordings particularly inspired (due to their own right hand injuries)? So who do you like?

In order, my favourites are:

Zimerman
Cortot
Francois
Fleisher
Entremont
Casadesus
Beroff

I second the suggestion for the Zimerman/Boulez recording. The best I've listened to so far.

Third vote for Zimerman. Then Samson Francois for both.

Fourth for Zimerman. I have heard only 2 other recordings, and Zimerman appealed to me the most, he also has a lot of power that I really like.

The first time I listened to this piece and followed with the score, I felt sick and wanted to vomit for some reason, yet I absolutely loved it. This must be the first piece that made me feel sick for listening to it.

Cortot, Samson Francois and Fleisher's. (This is my favorite piece of Ravel, btw)

koji (STSD)

i could have sworn le gibet was, koji

I've been real partial to Scheherazade lately.

Mmm... let's gather, Ravel groupies...

While I won't say this is superior to his other concerto (this one WAS commissioned, after all, and I think both have their merits), it is his most tumultuous work ever, with La Valse trailing closely behind. The only real recording I have of this though is Louis Lortie, and I like it, although I'm sure some of those recordings are vastly superior.

I have yet to learn this one myself, but I agree with you in that this piece is painfully underpreciated. Let's go Ravel!

Paul Wittgenstein who commissions the left hand concerto didn't like it much at first. It grew on him. It was also Wittgenstein who claimed that Ravel was a very poor pianist (although he was accepted to the Paris Conservertoire as a pianist), a rumor which survives to today. Ravel was meant to tour with the first concerto but he wasn't in good health.

Yes, I knew all that already... didn't think it was necessary to give everybody some trivia on Ravel. Still, Ravel was good enough to play Gaspard, so he's good enough in my book.

Uhh..have you heard Ravel's recordings....heh.

koji (STSD)

Those are NOT Ravel's recordings. They are labeled incorrectly. The recordings you are thinking of are actually of Casadesus.

Wasn't there a disc of Ravel Piano rolls? I seem to remember that it really sucked, and there was some question as to whether it is authentic.

Those, as I said, were mistakenly labeled. They are actually recordings of Casadesus. There are no physical piano rolls of Ravel's playing. There are very old recordings of Ravel playing some ensemble pieces (maybe the violin sonata, not sure).

Link/proof?

That would be very interesting to read.

regardless of who's playing, piano rolls suck anyway. They dont reproduce squat.

I find it very hard to believe that Casadesus was that bad (I've heard some good playing of his). Must be a different pianist on those rolls, then.

koji (STSD)

I'll find it next chance I get. I have a final on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Needless to say, this is the last thing I'm studying.

Casadesus was a good pianist imho. I don't think his recordings are what you're thinking of.

I know he's good, I'm just recalling the fact that there are a bunch of piano rolls that are labeled from Ravel, but were actually of Casadesus's. Simply put, there are no piano rolls for Ravel.

Of course I had no way of knowing what you know or don't know. Just adding to the thread about the concerto. Not out of necessity or anything like that

Haha, of course... there was no malice or anything like that in my post.

Although it may have something to do with the fact that I have a final tomorrow and I'm sick of everything! Urgh...

[from a response on pianophiles]:

The Valses nobles
et sentimentales, along with the first two movements of the Sonatine,
were recorded in Paris for Welte-Mignon in the autumn of 1913. Five
Duo-Art rolls were made for Aeolian in London on June 30, 1922; but
even though they were all issued as performed by Ravel, it is known
that some of them were played by Robert Casadesus (with the composer's
approval and under his supervision.) Oiseaux tristes and La vallée
des cloches (both from Miroirs) and the Pavane pour une Infante
défunte were known to have been played by Ravel in concert, and it
seems likely that these rolls were played by the composer. The other
works recorded were the Toccata from Le tombeau de Couperin, and Le
gibet from Gaspard de la nuit; these were probably played by
Casadesus.


koji (STSD)

I have a question about this concerto. Do you think that every pianist who performs it plays it with just the left hand? I was wondering, because personally I don't see the point with doing that if you haven't lost your right arm. There's no need to do it with just the left hand, I think.

Consider this another vote for Zimerman.

That would make you as lame as this guy .

I really love this piece. My teacher performed it at a competition some 15 or so years ago and the judges said that it didn't show enough technique. (!) I guess relying on one hand to play a part that sounds like more than 2, RIGHT after recovering from focal dystonia is just an easy task. :rolleyes:

His Op.10 No.4 sounded pretty good to me; thought the Waltz was dreadful, though. His Rachmaninoff is hardly terrible, either.

Not the greatest pianist in the world, but hardly bad as far as I can tell.

My former teacher used to go to Italy once a year to receive coaching from Guido Agosti. She used to quote him as saying that if you cant play all the notes by yourself, then have someone else come out and get the ones you cant, rather than playing it poorly. That would suggest Guido agrees with you.

Of course, she was prone to 'embellishment' of her stories, and perhaps I'm misremembering who she was quoting. It was a long time ago. :-)

sorry, but I don't see what you're trying to say. I also love this piece, it's one of Ravel's best compositions. And if I play it with two hands instead of one - so what? It's all about the music, and if I can play it better with two hands rather than one, noone who only listens to the beauty of the music should care.