Ravel’s piano music
has a very special appeal, for, as with
his orchestral music, he understood
how to draw from the instrument the
most glorious sonorities. This in turn
fired his imagination, and gave rise
to the extraordinary musical metaphors
we find in such disparate pieces as
the terrifying Scarbo in Gaspard
de la Nuit or the hypnotic Valléé
des Cloches (Valley of the Bells) in
Miroirs.
Both pianists represented
on this CD are well equipped to rise
to the huge technical demands posed
by these works – Gaspard and
Jeux d’eau most of all. Ravel
is a composer one might not immediately
associate with Ashkenazy. Yet these
are superbly characterised performances,
the dynamism and devilish virtuosity
of Gaspard suiting the Russian
particularly well. Ashkenazy captures
perfectly the fluid elegance of Ondine,
a picture of the water-nymph of that
name, and follows it with a chilling
delivery of Le Gibet (The Scaffold).
And the final movement, Scarbo,
an evil, poltergeist figure, judders
the listener with its sudden, violent
repeated notes.
That is followed by
an exceptionally beautiful performance
of the famous Pavane. Never have
I heard it more poignant, yet Ashkenazy
achieves this without a trace of sentimentality,
and all the tiny details of texture
and harmony which make the piece the
exquisite thing it is are clearly heard
in their rightful place. He is also
well able to encompass the world of
Valses Nobles et Sentimentales,
with its piquant distortions of the
Viennese waltz. Hearing these for the
first time for a while, I was struck
by the way many phrases look forward
to that great orchestral work La
Valse of some ten years further
down the line.
And what of Nadia Cole?
Can she live on the same disc as a ‘superstar’
like Ashkenazy, or is she outclassed?
Resoundingly, No! She is a different
type of pianist as well as a different
type of personality from Ashkenazy,
but she has a truly instinctive feeling
for this marvellous music. She has already
gained a reputation for interpretations
of French composers, and her Gaspard
de la nuit was widely praised when
it came out about five years back. She
shows both delicacy and power in Jeux
d’eau, as well as the requisite
complete technical mastery. Her Miroirs
were the highlight of this very
fine CD. Some of these pieces have titles
that seem to look forward to Messiaen
– Noctuelles (Moths), Oiseaux tristes
(Sad Birds), La vallée des cloches
(Valley of the Bells). Cole projects
effortlessly and without exaggeration
the pictorial qualities in these, but
is also superb in the grotesqueries
of Alborada del gracioso (Dawn Song
of the Jester), one of Ravel’s finest
essays in Spanish style, and a showpiece
in its own right.
Recordings are of Decca’s
highest standard throughout, though
the Ashkenazy tracks are possibly a
little closer up in perspective. Nearly
77 minutes of stunning piano playing;
this is a disc to treasure, no two ways
about it.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano) (Gaspard de la
nuit, Pavane pour une infante défunte;
Valses nobles et sentimentales) 
