SearchsearchUseruser

Gershwin: An American in Paris, Rhapsody in Blue, Ravel - Pascal Rogé

Gershwin: An American in Paris, Rhapsody in Blue, Ravel - Pascal Rogé

Oehms Classics  OC 623

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Orchestral


Gershwin: An American in Paris, Rhapsody in Blue, Ravel: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand

Pascal Rogé (piano)
RSO Wien
Bertrand de Billy (conductor)


The press gave the highest possible accolade to the recording of Gershwin’s Concerto in F and Ravel’s G major Piano Concerto (OC 601). Pascal Rogé now continues his pairing of Gershwin and Ravel. A French sense of sound and an authentic feeling for the jazz rhythms of this music predestine Pascal Rogé for this repertoire. Pascal Rogé’s recordings of French piano repertoire have been awarded the Gramophone Award, the Grand Prix du Disque and the Edison Award. Besides the classic-romantic repertoire of the Viennese and German School, he also focusses on French music from the 20th century.

Support this site by purchasing from these vendors using the paid links below.
As an Amazon Associate HRAudio.net earns from qualifying purchases.

bol.com
 
 
Presto

 

Add to your wish list | library

 

4 of 6 recommend this, would you recommend it?  yes | no

All
show
Reviews (2)
show
hide

Review by John Miller - February 20, 2008

The previous Ravel/Gershwin disc from Ohms (Gershwin: Piano Concerto, Ravel: Piano Concerto - Rogé, de Billy)gained great critical acclaim, and this second instalment has been eagerly awaited. There is, of course, huge competition in the market for both Rhapsody in Blue and American in Paris, two of the most popular classical pieces of all time. Even the inexplicably less often heard Concerto for the Left Hand by Ravel has a number of superb performances on disc. Nevertheless, Rogé, de Billy and his Vienna RSO have produced another triumph.

Gershwin's 1924 Rhapsody in Blue, an early experiment in what we now call 'cross-over music', was written for Paul Whiteman's Band (with an added string section), and was orchestrated by Ferde Grofé, at that time Whiteman's arranger and pianist. Grofé later re-orchestrated it several times for larger and larger orchestras as its popularity grew; the last in 1942, which is the one usually recorded and performed. A feature of the new recording is that it preserves a lot of the period 'Big Band' sound, with the saxophones, trumpets and trombones combining magnificently.

Rogé and de Billy are clearly united in their Gershwin interpretations. Both the Rhapsody and American in Paris are episodic works, but together this team manage to convey an unbroken flow of prolific thematic strands and sumptuous orchestral textures, giving the pieces a unity not always apparent. Rogé's pianism is wonderfully sensitive to the atmosphere of the 20's jazz in which both pieces bask; he can be poetic, sultry, skittish and barn-storming, all with gleaming tone and great poise. De Billy and his splendid orchestra respond in kind; the opening clarinet riff of the Rhapsody, with its seedy glissando, sets the bluesy note for the Rhapsody in Blue. The long-awaited and gorgeous slow melody is beautifully inflected by the strings, interpolated with drooping horn calls, and punctuated with star-like triangle notes. It swells into a magnificent reprise with truly impressive underpinning from the very deep bass drum, and snare-drums cut excitingly through. A most satisfying emotional climax to this very fine performance.

The later (1928) tone poem 'American in Paris' was orchestrated by Gershwin himself, who studied Ravel's scores amongst others. It sets off aptly here with the jaunty swing of the 1920's boulevards, rather than the present-day Parisian hectic chaos. Real car horns duel with one another vividly from opposite sides of the stage. Impressive rhythmic pointing and sheer character of solos paint a vivid picture of our young American's walk (it is Gershwin himself, of course). Arriving at a quiet churchyard, there are some lovely moments of repose on the cor anglais against a dazzling backdrop of orchestral sound, before the city bustle intrudes. The American becomes homesick, and conjures a sexy, smoky blues from a muted trumpet, which becomes more and more sumptuous in texture until it metamorphoses into a thoroughly naughty Charleston.

Apart from the sheer flair and musical freshness of this interpretation, the sound is demonstration-worthy and provides a true sonic spectacular. Even though there is no separate subwoofer channel, there are plenty of sounds well below 50Hz, which add to the visceral experience.

Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand, written about the same time as his G major Piano Concerto, came as a commission from Paul Wittgenstein. A concert pianist, Wittgenstein's right arm had to be amputated after an injury sustained during his capture by the Russians in the First World War. As part of his rehabilitation, he commissioned many composers to write left-handed pieces for him (including Britten, Hindemith, Korngold, Schmidt, Strauss, Prokofiev and Ravel). Being the son of famous philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, he had both the money and influence to carry his plans through.

Ravel responded with a single movement concerto of formidable difficulty, since he wanted an audience to think that both hands were in use. Wittengstein had problems with Ravel's jazz-inflected work, and Ravel refused to be present at its first performance in 1932, although they were later reconciled.

There can be little doubt that Ravel wrote the concerto about, as well as for, Paul Wittenstein, whom he saw as a tough and resourceful Austrian surmounting enormous difficulties. It may not be fanciful to view the extraordinary opening as portraying the pianist's feelings of despair and hopelessness after his amputation. Very softly, the double-basses play each of their open strings, E-A-D-G, so there is a troubling lack of indication of key, and a double-bassoon solo meanders Fafnir-like in the depths, gradually groping its way up into the light, where the horns intone a jazzy theme. Finally the pianist enters with some heart-stopping massive declamatory chords, which perhaps indicate Wittgenstein's triumph over adversity.

Rogé's performance of this concerto has been much praised in concert, and here with de Billy he finds a sympathetic partnership which makes for a truly memorable performance of this deeply human work. It certainly must lie amongst the best available, and additionally it is superbly recorded; the opening bars are normally just a vague deep rumble (as the brain's perception of pitch is quite fuzzy at the extremes of our hearing range). Here, however, one can clearly hear the open strings of the basses and the cellos, together with the deepest rumbles from the orchestra's splendid bass drum. Ravel next moves into an extended military march, jazzy but fill of bitter irony - perhaps a reminder of Wittgenstein's military career and its disastrous conclusion. But Ravel next makes the march into a Bolero rhythm, and there are a number of clear but distorted quotations from 'Bolero' itself, which usually go unnoticed, but are superbly highlighted here by de Billy and Rogé, adding greatly to the interest of their reading. (Bolero, which Ravel himself dismissed, became so popular that it haunted him for the rest of his life). At the end of the concerto, one is lost in admiration for the sheer muscular stamina of the pianist in this powerful work, bearing in mind the great discomfort of an asymmetric body position.

I have one caveat about the recording. In direct comparison with their earlier disc and played at exactly the same volume setting, the present disc has been mastered at a markedly lower level. Furthermore, the piano is set notably further back in the mix, whereas there was an ideal balance on the previous disc. This affects the tracks with piano and orchestra, which have to be played a good few dB louder in order to get a good piano sound. Then, because of the impressively wide dynamics of the recording, the big orchestral climaxes are rather overbearing in a domestic situation.

Despite this problem, these are truly magnificent performances in sumptuous and spectacular sound and I feel sure they will garner as much praise as those on the first disc in the series. Hearing the Ravel Left Hand Concerto from this team has made me wish that they could record a set of the Prokofiev concertos (including his one for Wittgenstein).

Finally, I must commend OEHMS excellent booklet notes. There is a very informative comparison of the amazing parallels between Ravel's and Gershwin's lives, enhanced by a wonderful photograph of them taken in 1928 at a Parisian soirée, Ravel seated at the piano.

Copyright © 2008 John Miller and HRAudio.net

Performance:

Sonics (Stereo):

Sonics (Multichannel):

stars stars stars

Review by John Broggio - March 28, 2008

This is a sorry disappointment to me.

I suppose it is the background and approach that one brings to listening that colours ones perspective but I have serious reservations about the character of the music making. There is no doubt that the music is (in the main) accurately played but for those who have grown up accustomed to the images of Americans portrayed (and not just by the US media) in the arts and politics, then this is a very staid American in Paris indeed. Where is the pizazz? I would almost venture that, were this performance exactly as Gershwin intended, it would have been named Stereo-typically-Introverted-Upper-Class-Englishman in Paris...

The Rhapsody in Blue fares little better thanks to the intervention of Pascal Rogé; at times his attempt at "swinging" the music sounds little better than most teenage pianists manage in simplified arrangements of the score (and that is not meant as a compliment to the youth of today!) The RSO Wien, it must be said, play wonderfully under Bertrand de Billy and make the best of the orchestral writing (I must admit to having a preference for the jazz band version - so much more playful!)

The Ravel fares better but at no point does it displace (recent) memories of Zimerman's superb account on DG with Boulez and the LSO. Principally, neither the conductor or pianist convince me that they have a cohesive idea about the composition and so the results sound fragmentary in nature.

All of this is a great shame as the engineering is very accomplished indeed with all the very many effects employed by both Gershwin and Ravel lovingly presented by the Oehms team.

Copyright © 2008 John Broggio and HRAudio.net

Performance:

Sonics (Multichannel):

stars stars