Bertrand Chamayou

Bertrand Chamayou returns with an Odyssey that he alone, or almost alone, is these days capable of: the entire catalogue of works for solo piano by Ravel. This recital pays homage to the great French composer on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth.

While he himself was not a virtuoso, Ravel worked out all his ideas on the piano, close to its mix of wood, keyboard and strings. This symbiotic proximity no doubt explains the witchcraft of his music for keyboard, so contrasted and yet so coherent, with its immediately recognisable style. At times economical, at others revolutionary, with ever-present modesty, he offers us an album filled with nothing but wonders. We are struck by the irresistible classicism of the Sonatine, between wisdom and exaltation; the prodigious kaleidoscope of Miroirs; the doleful and moving chant of the Tombeau de Couperin, homage to all those who died in the Great War; the enchanting vivacity of Jeux d’eau; the surprising Valses nobles et sentimentales which reinvents dance by degreasing it, manhandling it, transforming it… And in this temple, like a dark diamond, lies Gaspard de la nuit: a masterpiece of pianistic modernity, born out of the dreams of Aloysius Bertrand, with its conclusive, frenetic, indescribable Scarbo, pushing the piano beyond all limits.

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Maurice Ravel
Prélude
Miroir
Menuet
Sonatine
À la manière de Borodine
Gaspard de la nuit
Valses nobles et sentimentales
À la manière de Chabrier
Menuet sur le nom de Haydn
Sérénade grotesque
Jeux d’eau
Menuet antique
Pavane pour une infante défunte
Tombeau de Couperin