Time to hear Ravel at his most ravishing

RAVEL: JEUX DE MIROIRS

Javier Perianes Harmonia Mundi

“A Swiss watchmaker” is how Stravinsky described his friend Maurice Ravel – and that whirring, gleaming perfection, under which veiled emotions peep out, is entrancingly displayed in this new recording.

Two things make this disc stand out from the crowd.

One is the intelligent way it has been programmed, with the piano originals of Le Tombeau de Couperin and Alborada del Gracioso laid side-by-side with the orchestral arrangements Ravel later made of them. Placed bang in the middle is the work where the piano and orchestra come brilliantly together, the Piano Concerto.

The music is also ideally contrasted in mood. The Tombeau, dedicated to friends killed in the First World War, shows Ravel’s gentle, nostalgic side, and also his idealised vision of the French baroque, with its courtly dances and delicate “character pieces”, a genre perfected by François

Couperin (hence the title, which means “Tomb of Couperin”, though the music is anything but sombre). The alluring, exotic pantomime Alborada del Gracioso is a delicious example of Ravel’s “Spanish” side, and the Piano Concerto is suffused with Gershwin-like symphonic jazz, though Ravel claimed it was really a homage to Mozart and Saint-Saëns.

The second thing that makes this CD shine is the quality of the performances, which are wonderful. Spanish pianist Javier Perianes can handle all Ravel’s digit-twisting difficulties with apparent ease, but he never allows the finger-work to sound flashy. There’s always a feeling of intimacy and delicacy, as if we’re being given a glimpse of a child’s picture book.

Comparing the piano originals of Alborada and Tombeau with their orchestral arrangements is fascinating. The change isn’t to do with moving from monochrome to colour – the piano originals are actually full of colours – but rather with passing from a private world to a more spacious, public one.

The old jester’s serenade in Alborada feels longdrawn-out and melancholy as played by the bassoon, yet swift and ironic when performed by Perianes at the piano. In all, the disc is a feast for the ear and the heart.