Ravel - Piano Concertos. Miroirs
Aimard; Cleveland Orchestra / Boulez
DG 477 8770

Release date September 2010

The latest issue of BBC Music Magazine describes Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Pierre Boulez as a "dream team" and it seems to me that this is an entirely justified sentiment. The disc opens with the remarkable Concerto for the Left Hand. The (terrifying!) challenge for any pianist is to create the allusion of two hands, whilst using only the left. Aimard has risen to the challenge and the one-movement concerto is presented here with a sense of both conviction and drama. The Piano Concerto in G major follows and we are treated to a superb performance. The jazziness of the concerto has been maximised from the beginning and, combined with some particularly strong wind and brass playing from the orchestra, the first movement is magical. The piano solo at the start of the second movement provides a moment of contrast to what has gone before. Here Aimard allows the piano to sing and yet, perhaps because he has not been overly romantic with his interpretation, creates an undercurrent of tension. The frantic finale brings the concerto to a close with a satisfying feeling of precision. The Cleveland Orchestra, who were at this year's Edinburgh International Festival, more than complete the picture for our "dream team". The remainder of the disc is given over to Ravel's Miroirs for solo piano. Whilst this is a somewhat unusual coupling it is a joy to hear someone such as Aimard, who has given so much thought to Ravel, perform these works with such finesse. Aimard explains that he sees Ravel as "a composer who wrote in the wake of Impressionism and who arguably reacted against it". And so Aimard sucessfully brings out the very different styles distinguishing each of the five movements in Miroirs. No matter how many other recordings you may have of these works, this disc has more than earned some shelf space!

Reviewed by Ruth Squire