Argerich leads the way in a great pairing
These Beethoven and Ravel concertos are breathtaking , says Michael Church
Beethoven • Ravel Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2; Ravel: Piano Concerto in G
Martha Argerich (piano); Israel Philharmonic Orchestra/lahav Shani Avanti Classic AVA10662 51:54 mins
Here we have a lustrous performance of Beethoven’s Op. 19, and a coruscating account of Ravel’s Concerto in G, whose genesis was typically off-beat. The composer had just begun composition of that work when a commission came through for a concerto for the war-wounded, one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein.
Ravel’s response was to write both works simultaneously. ‘Composing two concertos at the same time,’ he told The Daily Telegraph, ‘was an interesting experience. The one I will play myself is a concerto in the truest sense of the word… written in the spirit of the concertos by Mozart and Saint-saëns. I believe that the music for a concerto should be light and brilliant, not searching for profundity and dramatic effects… It contains some allusions to jazz, but not many.’
Well, rather a lot, I’d say, as he nails his colours to the mast in the first few moments: the crack of a whip, the gay flutter of flutes and trumpets and the little snatches of Gershwinstyle blues all anchor this work in the world of 1920s jazz. Martha Argerich is in sparkling form as she leads the way on this journey, intricate in the Allegramente, sweetly lyrical in the Adagio, and suitably helter-skelter in the finale.
Lahav Shani and the Israel Philharmonic create a finely detailed sound in both these concertos, allowing Argerich to duet gracefully with them in the Beethoven. Her touch is pearlised in the Allegro con brio, and in the Adagio – seldom so emotionally restrained – her compelling pianism almost made me hold my breath; her quicksilver approach to the Rondo held me bewitched until her final disappearance into the ether.
PERFORMANCE
RECORDING
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Lahav Shani and the orchestra create a finely detailed sound