Harmonia Mundi's Ravel: Jeux de Miroirs plays off the idea that two of Maurice Ravel's major piano pieces and their orchestral arrangements are essentially reflections of each other. This is spelled out in the program's palindrome-like structure, where both versions of the Alborada del gracioso (taken from the five-movement suite for piano, Miroirs), and the piano and orchestral versions of Le Tombeau de Couperin, are placed on either side of the Piano Concerto in G major. While this is a clever way to bring pianist Javier ...
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Harmonia Mundi's Ravel: Jeux de Miroirs plays off the idea that two of Maurice Ravel's major piano pieces and their orchestral arrangements are essentially reflections of each other. This is spelled out in the program's palindrome-like structure, where both versions of the Alborada del gracioso (taken from the five-movement suite for piano, Miroirs), and the piano and orchestral versions of Le Tombeau de Couperin, are placed on either side of the Piano Concerto in G major. While this is a clever way to bring pianist Javier Perianes and conductor Josep Pons and the Orchestre de Paris together in a thought-provoking program, there are limitations to the comparisons because these works were intended to exist as separate entities. Ravel's orchestrations, not only of his own piano music but of other composers, such as Schumann, Chabrier, Mussorgsky, and Debussy, are fascinating to explore, though side-by-side comparisons with the piano originals may strike some listeners as repetitive, or a musical exercise...
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