Ravel - Complete Solo Piano Works
Steven Osborne
Hyperion CDA67731-2

Release date March 2011

This recording is a true tour-de-force. Ravel’s piano music is notorious for the demands it makes on the pianist, technically, emotionally and intellectually; Gaspard de la nuit is widely regarded as one of the most difficult piano pieces ever written. But for Steven Osborne, ‘Making this recording has been a real labour of love. Ever since I was a teenager I’ve been obsessed with Ravel’s music, intoxicated by the heady mix of innocence, melancholy, passion, playfulness and a hint of menace’. The over-riding joy of these performances is the easy freedom that Osborne finds within Ravel’s constraints. He has been canny in his choice of instrument, a Steinway prepared in such a way that not only is it highly touch-sensitive (a necessity when so much of Ravel’s music involves lightning-fast repeated notes) but also its tone is drier than might be expected, presumably taking heed of Ravel’s preference for the drier tone and lighter action of Erard pianos. The resulting transparent textures enable every note to be heard, and allow for the most subtle nuances of expression. There is an abundance of variety, as almost no two of Ravel’s piano pieces resemble each other in either character or form. The second disc contains mainly shorter pieces, buttressed by Le tombeau de Couperin (highlights here include the relentless rippling triplets of the Prélude, the deft dispatch of the Forlane with its piquant harmonies, and the sheer joie-de-vivre of the Rigaudon) and the Valses nobles et sentimentales (where Osborne memorably conjures a feel of delicate gauze in the second waltz). The serene but flowing performance of the Pavane pour une infant défunte would surely have pleased the composer, who had once deemed it necessary to remind a soloist that it was the princess who was defunct, not the pavane. Another high point is the Lisztian Jeux d’eaux with its cascading fountains of notes. Disc one contains the meatier Gaspard and Miroirs. The former’s Ondine movement, with its delicate rippling and powerful surging and retreating waves, is very different from the tinkling waters of the Jeux d’eaux. Miroirs is similarly full of contrasts, from the hollow bird calls of Oiseaux tristes to the strutting rhythms of Alborada del gracioso. Rounding off this disc is a superb performance of La Valse, where Osborne has revised Ravel’s own arrangement to more faithfully reflect the orchestral score.

Reviewed by Anne McAlister