RAVEL G MAJOR CONCERTO
for piano and orchestra (1929-1931)

The Ravel G major piano concerto is a revelatory work.  Jazz influences abound and are seamlessly integrated into the piano score and orchestration of the concerto.  Ravel's success in the blending of Jazz and Classical elements is matched only by George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, and you will hear Gershwin clearly in the first movement of this work.  In 1928, Ravel had undertaken a very successful tour of the the United States where he met Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and other Jazz greats. Their influence on Ravel was profound.

Of the group of recordings of the Ravel G major piano concerto offered below, six plus are beautifully played by Martha Argerich.  All are fine performances.

The Adagio assai is the movement that melts me.  It is very difficult to play in that the exquisitely languid melody must maintain its plasticity and float over a bass that is determined to bring it to ground.  In the wrong hands the base can have an element of the oom-pah-pah and the melody cannot maintain its forward momentum, delicate as it is.  The Bernstein and de Larrocha recordings of the Ravel G major concerto are symptomatic of those regrettably falling prey to this.  However, the Bernstein performances are Ravel at his jazziest and wonderful to hear. It is interesting to note that his performances get slower as he gets older, as do his orchestral recordings.

The recordings of the Ravel G major concerto that I find most enchanting are those by Martha Argerich, Hélène Grimaud (the Lopez-Cobos version), Monique Haas, and Cor de Groot.  They all achieve the plasticity I spoke of in part through the use of a subtle rubato, avoiding that the melodic beats fall squarely on the bass.  De Groot, one of the worlds most wonderful, if relatively unsung, pianists, has a singing legato, even in pianissimo passages, bell-like, that overcomes all.  He makes more of the left hand than do the others, giving it the rubato and a linear quality that results in a contrapuntal effect.  His timbre is orchestral and builds in intensity with the orchestras increasing participation.  A stunning performance, poor recording quality notwithstanding.

And all four of Michelangeli's performances of the Ravel G major piano concerto, spanning forty years, are masterpieces.  He is such a supreme artist that no matter what he does, it just works brilliantly.  In the recordings conducted by Celibidache ... Well, just listen.  The great Australian pianist, Eileen Joyce, said that Celibidache was the greatest conductor she had ever worked with, that "he was the only one who got inside my soul".  See if he gets inside Michelangeli's soul

But the pièce de résistance is the Adagio from the recording by Marguerite Long, to whom Ravel dedicated the concerto, conducted by the composer. The concerto was given its première By Long with Ravel conducting the Lamoureux Orchestra not long before this recording was made.

[It is now thought that this recording was not in fact conducted by Ravel but by Pedro de Freitas-Branco, a Portuguese conductor under the supervision of Maurice Ravel.  It is apparently a certainty that Freitas-Branco did conduct the other works performed at the concert in which Ravel conducted the premiere of the Concerto]

Ravel had said of a performance of his music by Toscanini, “I don’t ask for my music to be interpreted, but only that it should be played.”  This is an apt description of his own performance style which tended toward being clipped, almost abrupt, eschewing sentimentality and romanticism, and it is in this style that Marguerite Long plays the Ravel G major concerto. Interestingly, the vertical element of the Adagio is attenuated by the way in which it maintains its forward impetus, lilting and, yes, lightly bouncing its way to its inevitable conclusion.

The Ravel G major piano concerto is in three movements:

i Allegramente
ii Adagio assai
iii Presto

Some of the below recordings are incomplete and most of those are of the second movement only.  But I include them because of the stunning beauty of the slow movement. 

And at the very end is a comparison of eleven great pianists playing the cadenza from the first movement with thanks to Gullivior. So please check out the Ravel G major II page.

MARGUERITE LONG
French pianist (1874-1966)

Maurice Ravel [or Pedro de Freitas-Branco] conducting l'Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire

ii Adagio assai

recorded in 1932