Bertrand Chamayou's previous recordings have been devoted to 19th century keyboard music, focusing on pieces by Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, Frédéric Chopin, and other composers of the period. That makes this double CD of the solo piano music of Maurice Ravel a welcome surprise, because Chamayou is as adept in this early modern fare as he is in the works of the Romantics. The complete solo piano pieces are gathered here, along with a tribute by Alfredo Casella, À la manière de... Ravel, and Alexander Siloti's piano ...
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Bertrand Chamayou's previous recordings have been devoted to 19th century keyboard music, focusing on pieces by Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, Frédéric Chopin, and other composers of the period. That makes this double CD of the solo piano music of Maurice Ravel a welcome surprise, because Chamayou is as adept in this early modern fare as he is in the works of the Romantics. The complete solo piano pieces are gathered here, along with a tribute by Alfredo Casella, À la manière de... Ravel, and Alexander Siloti's piano transcription of Kaddish from Ravel's Deux mélodies hébraïques. Chamayou's virtuosity is abundantly displayed in the dazzling Alborada del gracioso from Miroirs and the fiendishly difficult Scarbo from Gaspard de la nuit, to name but two examples, though the less showy pieces reveal him to be a master of subdued expression. The beloved Pavane pour une infante défunte is not a flashy showpiece, but Chamayou plays with such refined shading and delicate tone colors that it becomes a...
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