Meeting in Music: Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit, Sonatine, Valses Nobles...

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At around 500 AD, western civilization began to emerge from the period known as “The Dark Ages”, the time when invading hordes of Vandals, Huns and Visigoths overran Europe and brought an end to the Roman Empire. For the next ten centuries, the newly emerging Christian Church would dominate Europe, administering justice, instigating “Holy” Crusades against the East, establishing universities, and generally dictating the destiny of music, art and literature

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Generally considered to be from c.1420 to 1600, the Renaissance (which literally means “rebirth”) was a time of great cultural awakening and a flowering of the arts, letters, and sciences throughout Europe.

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Named after the popular ornate architectural style of the time, the Baroque period (c.1600 to 1750) saw composers beginning to rebel against the styles that were prevalent during the High Renaissance. Many monarchs employed composers at their courts, where they were little more than servants expected to churn out music for any desired occasions. The greatest composer of the period, Johann Sebastian Bach, was such a servant. Yet the best composers of the time were able to break new musical ground, and in so doing succeeded in creating an entirely new style of music.

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In the broadest sense, contemporary music is any music being written in the present day. In the context of classical music the term has been applied to music written in the last quarter century or so, particularly works post-1975. Minimalism was practiced heavily throughout the latter half of the century and has carried over into the 21st century, with composers like Arvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki and John Tavener working in the more popular “mystic minimalism” variant.

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1/16/2012

Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit, Sonatine, Valses Nobles... - Argerich

Maurice Ravel
Gaspard de la Nuit, Sonatine, Valses Nobles et Sentimentales
Martha Argerich
I Grandi Interpreti della Musica Classica - DeAgostini (out of print)

I picked this one up during my last trip back home. It's part of the first classical collection on CD I ever purchased (my first classical recordings were on LP). DeAgostini made a terrific job back then, assembling a collection of not-so-obvious masterpieces by first-rate performers. Their being not-so-obvious made me look at the collection with some suspicion back then. My appreciation of Ravel's piano works has only blossomed now, approximately 20 years after purchasing the CD in question. And together with it, I have come to a better appreciation of that wonderful collection.
This is a milestone of Ravel's and Martha Argerich's discography, with the Argentinian still at the apex of her virtuosity, so there's no need for an endorsement review.

15 comments:

chamaeleo said...: Don't let your soul be mauled by your regrets. Say "thank you" now!

http://mir.cr/FVNIYZD8

pw: chamaeleo; 16 January 2012 08:29
sudzy said...: This looks wonderful. I always liked the Nojima recording on RR, since I saw him play it at UCLA in California. He opened my eyes to French music in an important way. Thanks for this very much!; 16 January 2012 14:56
sudzy said...: On listening to this, I am most pleased! I also like the Louis Lortie 2 cd set which I have ripped in FLAC, but did not save a log file. If anyone thinks they would like it, I can post it. Recorded in 1989 and 1994 on Chandos.
Another passing thought: Links to Rapidshare very appreciated. Filesuck and Fileshit have horrible capped low speeds much of the time. Hotfile has been gutted by legal attacks and now RS is coming back. Strange.; 16 January 2012 15:09
Ranapipiens said...: Thanks for this one, Chama (though Argerich's approach usually doesn't work for me, I'll give it a try).

Sudz: Another reason for sticking to RS is that it's one of the few (also MegaUpload, I think) that doesn't use captchas (inaccessible to people using screenreaders).; 16 January 2012 16:23
chamaeleo said...: I like mirrorcreator.com. It's normally relatively quick for me to upload and allows me to be able to share the files on a variety of file-sharing sites.
@sudzy: did I understand you right that the present solution is OK with you?; 16 January 2012 16:46
sudzy said...: yes, it's all good. I find this reading of Ravel very good; not too hasty like Theraud.; 16 January 2012 23:30
confitesprit said...: Thank you very kindly, chama. Much looking forward to hearing this one.; 17 January 2012 01:21
harry said...: many thanks
i love it; 17 January 2012 04:46
Jaime Silva said...: Thank you very much!; 17 January 2012 22:13
mt said...: many thanks; 18 January 2012 02:07
Balthasar said...: Thank you very much!; 18 January 2012 06:59
Tonis said...: Thanks to allow me introduce myself in the beauty; 21 January 2012 22:39
Zoe Petre said...: Wonderful, thank you. Argerich is one in a million.; 22 January 2012 11:16
ita diegues said...: Thank you very much.; 2 February 2012 19:23
rubberduck said...: Many thanks .

Truly an high class interpretation.; 19 February 2012 18:12