Sheva Collection Ravel: Complete Solo Piano Works

Review Usually Ravel's solo piano output can be squeezed onto a pair of discs. Florian Uhlig's box stretches to three. Unexpected bonus items include La Parade, unpublished until 2008. Which isn't top notch Ravel by any stretch, though it's still an entertaining romp, composed to accompany an informal dance piece in 1898. We don't always hear the early Sérénade Grotesque either. Unpublished until 1975 though written in the early 1890s, it's Ravel's earliest surviving work. It does sound wholly characteristic, showing that his fascination with Spanish music was there from the start. Uhlig gives us three Fragments Symphoniques drawn from Daphnis and Chloé, adapted from Ravel's piano rehearsal score. They're superbly arranged and magnificently played here, and, as with all good transcriptions, you soon forget that you've ever heard this music in orchestral guise. The Danse Guerrière is astonishing here, sounding as if Uhlig's acquired a third hand. You'd happily buy this set for the Daphnis excerpts alone, but there's much more. Uhlig's crystalline articulation and Hänssler Classic's dryish, close sound are so well-matched. Gaspard de la nuit combines technical brilliance with emotional resonance in one of the work's best modern performances. Le Tombeau de Couperin is crisp, dry and witty, with dazzling articulation in the closing "Toccata". There's a delectable, if dry-eyed, Pavane, and a sparkling Sonatine. If you're still unsure, sample the final movements of Miroirs; a dizzying version of "Alborada del gracioso" leading into a hypnotic account of "La vallée des cloches". Along with Steven Osborne's Hyperion set, a library choice for those enchanted by Ravel's keyboard music. --ArtsDesk, 5/1/15