ラヴェル: ソロ・ピアノ作品全集

2025年オーパス・クラシック賞「年間最優秀器楽奏者部門」 受賞盤がLP化

韓国を代表する世界的ピアニスト、チョ・ソンジンによるモーリス・ラヴェル生誕150周年プロジェクトから、ピアノ独奏作品全集がLP化されました。このアルバムでチョ・ソンジンは、ドイツで最も権威あるクラシック音楽賞であるオーパス・クラシック賞の「最優秀器楽奏者部門」を受賞しました。
ユニバーサル・ミュージック/IMS

Pianist Seong-Jin Cho came on the scene as an International Chopin Competition winner but has since developed an impressively wide repertory ranging from Handel to, now with this 2025 release, Ravel. He has played this program of Ravels complete piano music extensively in concert, and there is a marvelously polished quality to the whole. Yet there is much to be gained from hearing Chos recording, not least the Deutsche Grammophon labels engineering from the Siemens-Villa in Berlin. It imparts an arresting buzzing quality right off the bat to Chos piano (not identified, although the pianists clothes are noted to be by Gucci) in the early Serenade grotesque. This is one of several lesser-known pieces that may well draw Ravel buffs to the album, but he is equally strong in the repertory standards. Cho brings an effortless quality to some quite virtuosic music, such as the Alborada del gracioso from Miroirs and the "Scarbo" finale of Gaspard de la nuit. However, if anything, he is even better in subtler and quieter pieces, where his playing can seem right on the brink of evanescence. Sample some of the Valses nobles et sentimentales (try the dreamy Epilogue), which completely avoid mannerism or the incredible delicacy of the Minuet in Le tombeau de Couperin. It is top-notch Ravel throughout, superbly recorded, and it absolutely deserved its place on classical best-seller charts in early 2025. A companion album of the Ravel piano concertos is said to be on the way later in the year, and one awaits it with excitement. ~ James Manheim