Octo_Russ

Ravel - Gaspard De La Nuit [Pogorelich] 

Well i had to listen to this twice today to really take it in, at first i felt that Pogorelich has certain mannerisms, the ebb and flow of the pieces sometimes has quirky little corners that elbow out, almost as if Pogorelich is trying too hard to get us to notice things, however, on the second listening i was much more thrilled, the quirkiness is actually there in the music, the stutterings too, there's a thrillingness to his pianism, he really made me appreciate these three wonderful little vignettes today.

Ivo Pogorelich was born in Yugoslavia in 1958, but is a Croatian, he recorded the Ravel work in 1982, the booklet photo [by Malcolm Crowthers] is excellent, showing Pogorelich in a classy pose, it's the contrasting light and dark across his face which is memorable, this issue comes from the DG Centenary Collection, now quite rare, and i'm glad i picked this up on Ebay for £7 when i saw it, it really is a lovely disc.

Well all three pieces stunned me in different ways, but it's the opening Ondine that really had me in a spell, Ondine is a female water fairy, and like a siren, she lures men into a watery grave with her enticings, the tinkling and the cascades are perfect and thrilling, you can 'feel' the water up and down your spine, it's just sheer impossible to focus in on any 'moment by moment' analysis with timings, the whole thing blurs into a wonderful watercolour painting in the rain, awash with all sorts of fusion, the opening ostinato is so incredibly atmospheric, what a phenomenal start to a piece of music, and it's this opening that comes back again and again that nags the soul, the piece is full of lots of high treble notes, i just love the extremes of the keyboard, lots of agitation and repetition too, and i believe lots of sharps and flats as well, i like the way that Ravel ends the piece with a variation of the opening ostinato, Pogorelich is a master storyteller, capturing the fleeting magic and half lights that this music needs, a lovely flow to it, at times the left hand sounds a lot like a harp strumming, the plinking and trickling of water is fantastic, i want to listen to some other versions too to get a better idea of this piece, i'm so sure this will be my 'recording of the month' for February.

Here's Ivo Pogorelich playing Ondine on YouTube.