Ravel : Compared. Giacometti.

Piano International (Jan, 2013)
Each work here is performed twice, on an Erard and on a Steinway. Ravel had experience of both and composed using the French instrument. The older piano is featured on the first disc. The Erard has a dulcet, even ethereal timbre and is slightly fuzzy (perhaps because it was recorded in a church) but it has an attractive sound, with no excessive brightness in the treble and with a dry bass that that doesn’t obfuscate Ravel’s textures. It’s a little watery- sounding at times, somewhat tinkling, but that is analogous to the refined sound- world that Ravel conjures. Gaspard de la nuit is perhaps the biggest test of the Erard’s …