Jim MacCormaic wrote:

>Marcus Maroney wrote:
>
>>Any opinions on Krystian Zimerman and Pierre Boulez in the Ravel Piano
>>Concerti.
>
>I prefer the performance of the G major to that of the left-hand.  This has
>*real* energy and verve, both from soloist and orchestra, and is a truly
>exhilarating experience.  ...Alternative versions in my collection are of
>...  Werner Haas (Galliera and the Monte Carlo orchestra) in both concertos
>...which I return to more often [than any other].

I've heard the Zimerman, the Michelangeli, the Francois, and several others
(though not the Haas nor the Argerich, which I must), and I stand by a now
obscure version that hasn't yet appeared on CD:  by Aldo Cicollini, on
EMI/Angel, with Jean Martinon and the Orchestre de Paris (EMI Angel
S-37151).

I do very much like the crisp sound and detailed attention Boulez gives the
other instrumention in the Concerto in G.  But, leaving aside Martinon's
brilliant conducting, what Ciccolini does with the sublime middle movement
puts his interpretation in another realm, IMO.

I was disappointed by Zimerman's treatment, which, like Michelangeli's and
Francois', all but overlooks the crest of the Concerto in G, in the middle
of its 2nd movement.  In Ciccolini's hands, tension in this spare movement
builds gradually but steadily, rising from the first note until its
culmination, when it is transformed into a delicious cascading denouement
that unfolds till the movement's end.  Ciccolini's poetic focus on this
structure to the movement, in my view, brings out its full sublimity,
illustrating why Ravel, who composed so very little, is often rightly put
in the company of the great.

Some Martinon retrospective collection may yet release this gem on CD.
Coupled with the Left-Hand Concerto, it is the last of his five-LP cycle
of Ravel's orchestral music.

Bert Bailey, in Ottawa