Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. No. 1, Modere
2. No. 2, Mouvement de Menuet
3. No. 3, Anime
4. No. 1, Noctuelles
5. No. 2, Oiseaux tristes
6. No. 3, Une barque sur l'ocean
7. No. 4, Alborada del gracioso
8. No. 5, La vallee des cloches

Disc 2:

1. No. 1, Ondine
2. No. 2, Le gibet
3. No. 3, Scarbo
4. No. 1, Modere
5. No. 2, Assez lent
6. No. 3, Modere
7. No. 4, Anime
8. No. 5, Presque lent
9. No. 6, Assez vif
10. No. 7, Moins vif
11. No. 8, Epilogue; Lent
12. À la manière de...Borodine (Valse [Allegro giusto])
13. À la manière de...Chabrier (Paraphrase sur un air de Gounod [Faust, Act II]) (Allegretto)
14. Prélude
15. Fugue
16. Forlane
17. Rigaudon
18. Menuet
19. Toccata

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22503 in Music
• Released on: 2002-03-12
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered

Amazon.com
Newly transferred from the original master tapes, Walter Gieseking's 1954 EMI Ravel cycle gains in color and amplitude over previous "unofficial" CD editions of these long-unavailable recordings. Indeed, his vocal grimaces at loud moments register more clearly. More to the point, Gieseking's pellucid touch and direct brain-to-finger equilibrium control Ravel's cruelly exposed, deceptively difficult textures with effortless elegance in Le Tombeau de Couperin, Jeux d'Eaux, the Sonatine, Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, and most of Miroirs (though Alborada del gracioso could use more sultry snap). True, Gaspard de la Nuit's outer movements lack the hazy sweep of Gieseking's famous pre-war 78s. But the short pieces embody lapidarian marvels, like the Pavane's perfect melody/accompaniment balances (only a pedaling genius like Gieseking can achieve this without pedal!) and the Haydn Menuet's elusive polyphony voiced to a tee. Even when he's in less than tip-top form, Gieseking still clicks into Ravel's sound world as if both composer and interpreter shared genetic code. --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews

Gieseking and Ravel...a perfect match!
Walter Gieseking has been considered for many years to be thesupreme interpreter of the Frenchimpressionists Debussy and Ravel.This recording does nothing to diminish this reputation. No pianist had the dynamic control and the supreme command of pedaling and half pedaling effects as didGieseking. While there may be sometechnical lapses here and there this is music making of the highestquality. Especially notable arehis performances of the Pavanne andthe Gaspard de la Nuit. I highlyrecommend this album.

Another evidence of the grandeur of Gieseking!
The main virtue of this legendary resides in the fact that Ravel has never been played so incorporeal and so impressionistic. The use of pedal in Gieseking is extremely austere, he wants the bar sounds atmospherically, without mundane ornaments.

That is why his Ravel so ethereal and windy. A true rewarding experience for your senses.

Ravel solo piano music
As with Debussy, Gieseking' historical 1950s Ravel recordings are very fine. The works were also frequently orchestrated by Ravel and comparisons are very rewarding. A most cost effective way to know these works.