Ravel - Piano Concerto [Zimerman/Boulez-The Cleveland Orchestra]A lovely disc, i really enjoyed playing this one, beautifully recorded, the bizarre ornamentation by Ravel nicely caught by the microphones, i certainly enjoyed Ravel's penchant for jazzy ideas, it's a nice stew of a lot of things, and the Composer brings it all off with aplomb, this is the second time the recording of this work has appeared in my Blog, i played it almost a year ago [6th April 2011], and this listening has deepened my understanding and love for it.
Krystian Zimerman is Polish, now 55 years old, he recorded this work in 1994, the front cover photo [by Susesch Bayat] of Boulez and Zimerman is very nice, clear sharp shot, nice colours, and a sort of symmetry about it.
I very much enjoyed the first two movements of this Concerto, i heard things that i haven't heard before, the second movement Adagio was gorgeous and revelatory, usually it's the opening 3 minute solo that enchants me the most, it truly is a mesmerizing shimmer of notes, however on this listen it's what came afterwards, slowly the movement goes from light to dark, and it's these sombre undercurrents that i found so meaningful,
Here's Krystian Zimerman playing the central Adagio on YouTube.
