Composer: Maurice Ravel
Performer: François Dumont, Jennifer Gilbert
Orchestra: Orchestre National de Lyon
Conductor: Leonard Slatkin
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Catalogue: 8573572
Release: 2019
Size: 839 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Piano Concerto in G major
01. I. Allegramente
02. II. Adagio assai
03. III. Presto
04. Tzigane
Piano Concerto in D major (for the left hand)
05. I. Lento
06. II. Allegro
Composed between 1929 and 1931, Ravel’s two piano concertos reflect his enthusiasm for jazz, though one that was thoroughly absorbed into his own idiom. The Concerto in G major, originally conceived as a Basque rhapsody, is lightly scored but sports a vivacious percussion section, galvanising motor rhythms and a slow movement of astonishing beauty. The Concerto for the Left Hand, commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein who had lost his right arm in the First World War, is a single movement tour de force, as is Tzigane, a gypsy violin showpiece of dazzling virtuosity.