Ravel - Gaspard De La Nuit [Berezovsky]
This was a great experience, i always get a nice little thrill just before putting this work on, there's a certain degree of anticipation at the opening ripples, Ravel's soundworld is fantastic, unlike say Beethoven, it's as if written music of keys and bar lines and notes are gone, and we're into pure expressionism, conjured up at the very moment that the fingers hit the keys, plus Ravel makes things devilishly difficult, only a player of truly commensurate skill can do this triptych justice, and Berezovsky is one of those Pianists that has virtuoso at his fingertips, but it takes more, you need a real chimerical feeling for the soundworld, the trick is to get the hearer to forget about fingers and keys, and just listen to sounds, just the same as a Film Director needs to get the audience to forget about a camera and Actors, and be drawn into his world as if it's real people in real time, now that's a hard checklist.
Boris Berezovsky is Russian, he's now 43, he made this recording in 1994, wow i can't believe that that's not far off 20 years!, seems like he made the recording yesterday, the front cover photo is stunning! [by Micheal Chambati Woodhead], of Berezovsky after a concert i take it, witing in the wings as it were, like some Olympic Ice Skater waiting for his score, a bouquet on the floor at his feet, and his bow tie half taken off, the real stunningness of the photo is the mirror image that is created behind him, but not a glass mirror, a shiny steel mirror that muddies the reflection, very reminiscent of some of the music on the disc, the lettering is perfect, and perfectly placed, the expressionless look on his face, what a great cover!.
Of all these three pieces, it just has to be the opening Ondine i loved the most, it is so beguiling, the opening rippling ostinato is perfect in conjuring up the Water Fairy Ondine, not merely two notes repeated 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2..., but rather 1-2-1-1-2-1-1-2-1-1-2..., very much harder to play for the right hand, and the left plays the melody, of course it never remains robotically simple, and lovely new stronger ripples join in [0:45+], and cascades of water join the scene, like mesmerizing strumming on harps [0:52+], i love the way Berezovsky surprises me with sudden loud splashes [2:55+], and right after constant cascades, one after another [3:00-3:16], growing in ferocity, there's a lull near the end where only the soft melody is heard [4:43-5:01], but it ends on one last splash and is quietly gone, the melody lingers in the air, it's a lovely piece of evocative music.
Here's Valentina Lisitsa playing Ondine on YouTube.
