Debussy: 12 Etudes / Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit – Joseph Moog

   in Piano International (Mar, 2019)
There is no doubting Moog’s virtuosity in this performance – try Étude No 5, which builds up a fair head of steam. The recording allows space for introversion while allowing Moog’s exemplary clarity to shine through. The final Étude is refreshingly muscular. It is good also to have the 1915 Étude retrouvée, rediscovered in 1997 by the pianist and scholar Roy Howat. Related to the eleventh published Étude, it adds an interesting alternative avenue for that material. The Études have been captured better though, perhaps most notably Mitsuko Uchida (top choice) and, with a cooler head, Maurizio Pollini.

Ravel’s Gaspard is a fine performance, ‘Le Gibet’ impeccably voiced and the gestural …