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Wednesday, December 7, 2016

César Franck; Maurice Ravel; Claude Debussy - Piano Music (Ivan Moravec)


Information

Composer: César Franck; Maurice Ravel; Claude Debussy
  1. Franck - Prélude, choral et fugue, M. 21: 1. Prélude. Moderato
  2. Franck - Prélude, choral et fugue, M. 21: 2. Chorale. Poco più lento
  3. Franck - Prélude, choral et fugue, M. 21: 3. Fugue. Poco allegro
  4. Ravel - Sonatine in F sharp minor: 1. Modéré
  5. Ravel - Sonatine in F sharp minor: 2. Mouvement de menuet
  6. Ravel - Sonatine in F sharp minor: 3. Animé
  7. Debussy - Préludes - Book 2, L. 123: 12. Feux d'artifice
  8. Debussy - Préludes - Book 1, L. 117: 10. La Cathédrale engloutie
  9. Debussy - Préludes - Book 1, L. 117: 5. Les collines d'Anacapri
  10. Debussy - Préludes - Book 1, L. 117: 4. Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir
  11. Debussy - Préludes - Book 2, L. 123: 7. La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune
  12. Debussy - Pour le piano, L. 95: 1. Prélude
  13. Debussy - Pour le piano, L. 95: 2. Sarabande
  14. Debussy - Pour le piano, L. 95: 3. Toccata

Ivan Moravec, piano
Date: 1962 (1-3), 1965 (7-11), 1969 (4-6, 12-14)
Label: Supraphon
http://www.supraphon.com/album/412-moravec-ivan-plays-french-music-franck-ravel-debussy


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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

Formerly available from VAI, the items that Ivan Moravec has selected for reissue on Supraphon establish him as a worthy successor to Walter Gieseking in French repertoire, though Moravec's "velvet touch" comes with a surer technique than Gieseking ever commanded. The virtues of these performances are deservedly well-known. Franck's masterpiece seldom has sounded so cogently integrated, with a particularly seraphic Choral introducing a fugue in which Moravec offers optimal linear clarity without any compromise in richness of tone color. Ravel's Sonatine rivals Argerich's in prismatic delicacy as well as virtuosic projection of the music's considerable technical demands. 

The Debussy preludes include a glittering Fireworks, a grandly imposing Engulfed Cathedral, and a particularly exquisite Sounds and Scents Swirl in the Night Air (alongside marvelous versions of The Hills of Anacapri and The Terrace of Moonlit Audiences). In these, as in the Franck and the sparkling final toccata of Pour le piano, Moravec's prevailingly gentle touch never precludes surprisingly powerful moments and a wide dynamic range where necessary. Sensitive, ungimmicky remastering gives an excellent sense of the tone colors at Moravec's command notwithstanding the diversity of instruments and venues used over a wide span of time (1962-69), with only a light touch of hiss betraying the age of the master tapes.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

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Ivan Moravec (9 November 1930 – 27 July 2015) was a Czech concert pianist whose performing and recording career spanned nearly half a century. Moravec studied with Erna Grünfeld, Ilona Štěpánová-Kurzová and attend master classes in Arezzo with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. Moravec had a reputation for attention to the condition of the pianos he played. Moravec's recordings for the Connoisseur Society were notable for their audiophile quality, and he also recorded for several other labels, including Vox, Nonesuch, Dorian, Hänssler, and Supraphon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Moravec

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