Ravel Fragments

Ravel portrait without a real original work Happy birthday, Monsieur Ravel! Right on time for the composer's 150th birthday on 7 March 2025, Bertrand Chamayou presents a top-class musical jubilee gift with his solo album "Ravel Fragments". With this, the French pianist closes a discographic gap that he deliberately left in his complete recording that came out in 2016: The focus is on works by Ravel in his own hand and Chamayou's arrangements, expanded for the jubilee programme with pieces by composers who were inspired by the piano music of their great predecessor. Little known - and highly demanding - are the piano versions that sound inventor Ravel made of his choreographic poem "La Valse" and parts of his ballet "Daphnis et Chloë". Bertrand Chamayou places these alongside his own instrumental version of selected vocal works - part of a homage that becomes a time-saving portrait through the Ravel perspective of composers from that time and today, such as Ricardo Viñes, Alexandre Tansman, Salvatore Sciarrino and Betsy Jolas: "a kind of Ravel portrait without a real original work", as Bertrand Chamayou describes his project himself. His previous Ravel recordings already received praise from both listeners and critics. The "breathtaking beauty and incomparable power" in Chamayou's playing, which was emphasised at the time by the British specialised magazine "Gramophone", can also be heard on "Ravel Fragments". This time there is the added appeal of the unknown, which will appeal not only to lovers of excellent piano playing, but also to classical music listeners who enjoy discovering new things.