November 6th, 2010 
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Product Description
Continuing the collaboration with the Cleveland Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon will release an all-new recording of works by Ravel featuring French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard and conductor Pierre Boulez. The two artists have collaborated together for years, and even recorded for Deutsche Grammophon together before, and now they give masterful accounts of Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand and Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in G major. According to WCLV (Cleveland), “If Thursday’s concert is any indication, the Deutsche Grammophon CD to be distilled from this weekend’s performances might also turn out to be a classic. Aimard’s articulate, intelligent playing – full of beguiling colors and thoughtfully rendered detail – is perfectly suited to Ravel’s sound world . . . . Aimard also seems to take a particular pleasure in Ravel’s distinctive timbres, making much of grumbling low notes in the same work’s opening cadenza and in the G-major concerto’s first movement . . . experienced live, Boulez and Aimard’s Ravel is altogether magical.” To complete the album, Aimard records Miroirs for solo piano, including the famous “Alborada del gracioso”.
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In 1999 Boulez released a coupling of the two Ravel piano concertos with Krystian Zimerman. The filler then was a set of the Valses nobles et sentimentales; here it is a set of Miroirs. Overlaps are number in the classical catalog, of course, so I suppose this one represents a desire to promote Aimard, who has had an increasing presence on the yellow label. Everything is in order, with a world-class orchestra, a fine-sounding piano, and excellent recorded sound. The soloist and conductor are also like-minded in their cool, detailed approach that shortchanges excessive romantic gestures, but in the bargain are they short on wit and personal involvement?
I suppose the answer depends on your expectations and not a little bit on your culture. The French appreciate clarity, detail, and refinement as hallmarks of musical style in almost everything, up to and including Mahler. The Left-Hand Cto. is full of strange sonorities and odd juxtapositions: it moves from the stygian gloom of the opening to a Bolero-like hypnotic march with impertinent trombone slides and jazzy quips along the way. I find Aimard a little too stiff and unwilling to exploit the strangeness of the score, but it’s a matter of taste. His left hand is prodigiously adept, and Boulez provides a powerful, alert accompaniment. At 85 he seems preternaturally animated and youthful.
The G major has been done with more wit, panache, and attack than what we get from this CD. Aimard plays this jazz piece straight, and Boulez goes along, but in terms of nuance and musical detail, this is a platinum-grade performance. One expects nothing less. Yet I was left wondering if Ravel needs to be made dignified. The whole thing felt like Rhapsody in blue played by a Juilliard graduate. as far as Miroirs goes, let me confess to not being a fancier of Ravel’s solo piano works. I picked one number form the set, the famous Alborada del gracioso, and compared a few versions with this new one. My first impression had been that Aimard was strait-laced and not remotely Spanish in mood. Quite true if you listen to the puckish pointed playing of Alexandre Theraud. Dinu Lipatti’s reading all but leaps out of the speakers to grab your attention; it is also considerably faster than Aimard’s. only Jacques-Yves Thibaudet mirrored Aimard’s more careful, serious approach; neither is fun or exciting.
In the end, this CD reinforced by idea of Aimard as an undeniably superior musician who has real limits when it comes to letting himself go. But I can see how other listeners would be impressed all around.
Rating: 4 / 5