Ravel: Miroirs (Lortie, Bavouzet)

Ravel is notoriously hard to interpret. Playing him requires virtuosity, but virtuosity worn so light it’s almost transparent – Ravel isn’t interested in difficultly qua difficulty, after all, only the sheer sound a piano can generate. If you take the difficulty too seriously – if you play with too much temperament, you lose the painstaking perfectionism and jewel-like classicism of Ravel. And if you play with too little personality, everything sounds pallid, washed-out, pale. The two performances here of Miroirs – one of Ravel’s most important works – are rare and stunning successes. Lortie has a deliciously straightforward and earthy approach, full of verve and sensitivity perfectly on display in his performance of Alborada, with all those liquid glissandi shimmering like mercury, and the crystalline voicing in Une barque at moments such as [13:04]. Note also the uncanny accelerandi he uses in Noctuelles to perfectly imitate the dark, haphazard flitting about of night moths. Bavouzet’s impressionism