March 6, 2025 • 13 mins
Consider making a donation to The Piano Maven podcast by subscribing to our Substack page (https://jeddistlermusic.substack.com/about), which you also can access by clicking on the "Donate" button here: https://rss.com/podcasts/pianomaven
Links to recordings:
Piano versions
Angela Hewitt - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSs3xaCSfgQ
Eric Himy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYe76nLP7hQ
Stewart Goodyear - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCjFxrX269I
Seong-Jin Cho - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIXe7H52UkA
Robert Casadesus - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8uTLfEsdwU
Sviatoslav Richter (live 1954) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsdnHaz90Fw&list=RDWsdnHaz90Fw&start_radio=1
Walter Gieseking - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxUWY6w_-Ww
Dajin Laziic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kehUa2NYDQ0
Orchestra Versions
Carlo Maria Giulini/Philharmonia Orchestra - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXCiBY2vh90
George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET8syTD20jw
Sergiu Celibidache/RAI Torini - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV4Qgu1bGT8
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is Jed Dissler and welcome to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano
(00:13):
recordings.
As a lot of you know, I do not record this program in a professional studio, although
that's something I would love to do.
I record this in my New York home music studio and we are on the river and you hear the wind
against the windows when it gets very windy in the wintertime.
(00:37):
So for those of you who are asking, what is that strange sound if you do hear it on this
episode, that's the wind in the background and there's absolutely nothing I can do about
it.
I try to do some noise reduction, but at least you hear me talking.
So I guess that's good enough.
(00:57):
But anyway, you can subscribe to the Piano Maven podcast through my sub stack page by
clicking on the link in the episode description.
Paid subscribers get all kinds of bonuses such as piano maven zoom meetings.
We just had our first one in fact, and we share listening experiences and we will be
(01:21):
having special guests later on in the year.
So please do consider subscribing to help us reach out further into the piano community
and to keep this podcast in production throughout this year.
Over the past few weeks, I've been mulling over just what I should do to mark the 150th
(01:46):
birth anniversary of Maurice Ravel.
And you know, I kept tying myself up and not so I was thinking, well, maybe I should do
an episode devoted to complete cycles of Ravel's piano music on disk, or maybe make a list
for my ideal recordings for each Ravel piano work.
(02:08):
And I just kept going back and forth with ideas and I could not make up my mind because
there is so much Ravel out there in piano recording land.
And you know, for this anniversary year, there is so much stuff coming out.
We have that new Siong Jin Chou Ravel cycle on Deutsche Grammophon for which I wrote the
(02:32):
booklet notes.
And I still haven't listened to all of it yet.
Although my friend David Hurwitz did a really perceptive review on his video channel and
it's quite interesting what he says.
Also I've just started listening to the new Ravel cycle from Jean Eflam Bavouze, which
(02:54):
I'm going to be reviewing for Grammophon.
I'm actually thinking about doing a podcast episode where I compare both Bavouze cycles,
the earlier one he did for MDG in 2002 and the brand new one for Chandos.
I think that'll be kind of an interesting task.
However, for this episode, I finally decided that I would just stick with one short composition,
(03:22):
the Pavane pour une Infante Défunte.
I pronounced that really horribly.
Okay, so I'm just going to say it in English.
The Pavan for a Dead Princess.
The Pavan for a Dead Princess.
Ravel was 24 years old when he composed the Pavan in 1899.
(03:44):
And he chose its title mainly because he liked the alliteration it contained, if you pronounce
it in French.
Pavan pour une Infante Défunte.
Yet Ravel did admit that the music does evoke, quote unquote, a pavan that a little princess
(04:06):
once might have danced at the Spanish court.
After the work got its premiere in 1902 by the pianist Ricardo Víñez, the piece became
immensely popular, somewhat to Ravel's annoyance, although that did not stop him from orchestrating
it in 1910.
(04:28):
So as you can imagine, the Pavan has been recorded a gazillion times and I don't have all gazillion
recordings here in my collection.
Otherwise I would be out on the street, I guess.
So I'm just going to recommend a mere handful of recordings of this piece, recordings that
(04:48):
I like.
And I also will recommend one recording as a party record because it is such a vile and
perverse interpretation.
But I'm going to save that for last.
My favorite performances of the Pavan tend to be those that are simple and direct, performances
that maintain an ideal balance between the melody and the accompaniment.
(05:14):
So I guess in this regard, I can recommend without reservation the recordings of the
Pavan by Jean-Philippe Collard.
I can easily recommend Angela Hewitt's recording, the one on Hyperion.
And there was one on the Ivory Classics label by a pianist named Eric Heime, H-I-M-Y.
(05:36):
I kept this disc for a long time and I don't really know what's happened with this pianist.
But it's a wonderful performance because he brings the inner voices closer to the forefront
than in other recordings.
But he does it in a way that is very natural and it doesn't sound contrived.
Stuart Goodyear has a marvelous recording of the Pavan and he makes his interpretive
(06:02):
points through timbre and touch alone with careful dynamic gradations.
And I did listen to the new recording of Xiang Jin Chou, which I wrote the notes for.
I think it's beautiful and sensitive on the surface, but there may be too many little
(06:23):
manipulations of the line and self-aware kind of dynamic dips.
I mean, it's not micromanaged to the extent that some of his other interpretations have
been.
But I think it kind of lacks the directness and simplicity that I do hear from the Stuart
Goodyear performance or the Jean-Philippe Collard performance for that matter.
(06:48):
And it's the polar opposite of that rather dry and very straight-laced Robert Casadezou
recording from the early 1950s.
And I think that one almost goes too far in the other direction because it's literalism
that is just too matter of fact for my taste.
(07:12):
But it was kind of an antidote after hearing some of the more micromanaged versions.
Now you would think that Walter Gieseking in the Pavan would be similarly Apollonian
and straightforward and on the cool and matter of fact side.
Because Gieseking often could be that kind of pianist.
(07:33):
But his recording of the Pavan in his 1954 Ravel cycle for the EMI label uses a wide
berth of tempo fluctuation, but he does so tastefully and masterfully and in careful
proportion.
It's a very personalized reading, but it's one that makes you want to go back and listen
(07:56):
to it several times through because there's a lot going on there.
Now for something more like a funeral march than a Pavan, we have to turn to Sviatoslav
Richter.
His tempo in this piece has always been too slow for my taste, but his impeccable balances
(08:18):
between the hands and his mesmerizing legato articulation really hold my attention.
I'm talking about Richter in 1960 in his December Carnegie Hall and Mosque theater
recordings for RCA Victor.
These were professionally recorded and Richter really was in his prime in those years.
(08:42):
This is slow and purposeful Richter as opposed to the slow and boring Richter that you often
got in his later years.
Okay, so it is now time to reveal the party record version of the Pavan.
It's with the pianist Dejan Lazic on Challenge Classics.
(09:05):
He begins the Pavan with these horribly cloying staccato jabs and the accompaniment in the
left hand that sound like a caricature of Glenn Gould.
He mauls the basic tempo up and down and sideways and middle inside out and in all directions.
(09:28):
He exaggerates Ravel's dynamics to the point where the musical line just disintegrates.
It becomes deader than the dead princess.
I don't know if this pianist was sincere in his conception or misconception as it were
or if this was a case of deliberate sabotage.
(09:48):
This is a pianist who really knows better because he has made some wonderful recordings.
He has one of the best recordings for example of the Schubert B flat sonata, the possumist
sonata, Deutsch no. 960.
That's a marvelous recording.
So while I have your attention, I guess I should mention a few of my favorite orchestral
(10:10):
versions of the Pavan.
Maybe the best balanced and most transparent of all of them is the one with George Sell
and the Cleveland Orchestra.
But I also like the expansiveness and the vocally informed string pizzicati and the
beautiful first desk soloists in the recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Carlo
(10:35):
Maria Giuliani.
I just listened to that after not having heard it for years and I was thoroughly enchanted.
There is a recent version with the Basque National Orchestra under the direction of
Robert Trevino and this is just a gem and it is so gorgeously recorded.
(10:56):
Now of course you will have your favorite orchestral versions and you don't have to
write to me about them because I know that you know what they are, I know what they are
and we've all heard them.
I'm talking about the recordings of Cantelli in the Philharmonia, Seggio Zawa in the Boston
Symphony, Charles Munch in the Boston Symphony, the Jean Martinon recordings, the one with
(11:22):
his French Orchestra and also the one he did with the Chicago Symphony, Paul Parais in the
Detroit Symphony.
You know Paul Parais' recording is interesting because his first desk horn soloist has a
little bit of that Russian vibrato.
I'm kind of exaggerating.
(11:45):
Oh yeah, you know there's this unbearably slow yet not too shabbily executed, I must
admit, version with the RAI Torino Orchestra under Sergio Cellabedacchi.
You know of course you have to give it to Cellabedacchi for being slower than everyone
(12:06):
else in the world.
And his recording clocks in at around nine minutes.
Probably the piece takes about six minutes in the orchestral version.
Now I wouldn't say that this rendition is deader than the Dead Princess, but it definitely
depicts a princess who's been on life support for decades or maybe death support.
(12:29):
But I do appreciate your life support of this podcast and thank you for considering a paid
subscription to keep the Piano Maven afloat and supported.
And let's raise a glass to Maurice Ravel and let's wish him a happy 150th birthday as we
(12:50):
dance the pavon.
This is Jed Disler and you've been listening to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast
guide to piano recordings with a couple of orchestral recordings snuck in there today.
We will have more episodes about Ravel's piano music on disc this anniversary year.
You can count on it.
(13:11):
And also check out my episode from the first season of the Piano Maven where I talked about
Ivo Pogorelich and his recording of Ravel's Gaspard Alainoui if you haven't heard it.
That episode generated some interesting discussion among listeners and if you missed that episode,
maybe you'll find it interesting, helpful or even contrary to what you think.
(13:37):
Anyway, thank you for listening and I look forward to you and I being together for our
next episode of the Piano Maven.
Take care.
This is Jed Dissler and welcome to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano
(00:13):
recordings.
As a lot of you know, I do not record this program in a professional studio, although
that's something I would love to do.
I record this in my New York home music studio and we are on the river and you hear the wind
against the windows when it gets very windy in the wintertime.
(00:37):
So for those of you who are asking, what is that strange sound if you do hear it on this
episode, that's the wind in the background and there's absolutely nothing I can do about
it.
I try to do some noise reduction, but at least you hear me talking.
So I guess that's good enough.
(00:57):
But anyway, you can subscribe to the Piano Maven podcast through my sub stack page by
clicking on the link in the episode description.
Paid subscribers get all kinds of bonuses such as piano maven zoom meetings.
We just had our first one in fact, and we share listening experiences and we will be
(01:21):
having special guests later on in the year.
So please do consider subscribing to help us reach out further into the piano community
and to keep this podcast in production throughout this year.
Over the past few weeks, I've been mulling over just what I should do to mark the 150th
(01:46):
birth anniversary of Maurice Ravel.
And you know, I kept tying myself up and not so I was thinking, well, maybe I should do
an episode devoted to complete cycles of Ravel's piano music on disk, or maybe make a list
for my ideal recordings for each Ravel piano work.
(02:08):
And I just kept going back and forth with ideas and I could not make up my mind because
there is so much Ravel out there in piano recording land.
And you know, for this anniversary year, there is so much stuff coming out.
We have that new Siong Jin Chou Ravel cycle on Deutsche Grammophon for which I wrote the
(02:32):
booklet notes.
And I still haven't listened to all of it yet.
Although my friend David Hurwitz did a really perceptive review on his video channel and
it's quite interesting what he says.
Also I've just started listening to the new Ravel cycle from Jean Eflam Bavouze, which
(02:54):
I'm going to be reviewing for Grammophon.
I'm actually thinking about doing a podcast episode where I compare both Bavouze cycles,
the earlier one he did for MDG in 2002 and the brand new one for Chandos.
I think that'll be kind of an interesting task.
However, for this episode, I finally decided that I would just stick with one short composition,
(03:22):
the Pavane pour une Infante Défunte.
I pronounced that really horribly.
Okay, so I'm just going to say it in English.
The Pavan for a Dead Princess.
The Pavan for a Dead Princess.
Ravel was 24 years old when he composed the Pavan in 1899.
(03:44):
And he chose its title mainly because he liked the alliteration it contained, if you pronounce
it in French.
Pavan pour une Infante Défunte.
Yet Ravel did admit that the music does evoke, quote unquote, a pavan that a little princess
(04:06):
once might have danced at the Spanish court.
After the work got its premiere in 1902 by the pianist Ricardo Víñez, the piece became
immensely popular, somewhat to Ravel's annoyance, although that did not stop him from orchestrating
it in 1910.
(04:28):
So as you can imagine, the Pavan has been recorded a gazillion times and I don't have all gazillion
recordings here in my collection.
Otherwise I would be out on the street, I guess.
So I'm just going to recommend a mere handful of recordings of this piece, recordings that
(04:48):
I like.
And I also will recommend one recording as a party record because it is such a vile and
perverse interpretation.
But I'm going to save that for last.
My favorite performances of the Pavan tend to be those that are simple and direct, performances
that maintain an ideal balance between the melody and the accompaniment.
(05:14):
So I guess in this regard, I can recommend without reservation the recordings of the
Pavan by Jean-Philippe Collard.
I can easily recommend Angela Hewitt's recording, the one on Hyperion.
And there was one on the Ivory Classics label by a pianist named Eric Heime, H-I-M-Y.
(05:36):
I kept this disc for a long time and I don't really know what's happened with this pianist.
But it's a wonderful performance because he brings the inner voices closer to the forefront
than in other recordings.
But he does it in a way that is very natural and it doesn't sound contrived.
Stuart Goodyear has a marvelous recording of the Pavan and he makes his interpretive
(06:02):
points through timbre and touch alone with careful dynamic gradations.
And I did listen to the new recording of Xiang Jin Chou, which I wrote the notes for.
I think it's beautiful and sensitive on the surface, but there may be too many little
(06:23):
manipulations of the line and self-aware kind of dynamic dips.
I mean, it's not micromanaged to the extent that some of his other interpretations have
been.
But I think it kind of lacks the directness and simplicity that I do hear from the Stuart
Goodyear performance or the Jean-Philippe Collard performance for that matter.
(06:48):
And it's the polar opposite of that rather dry and very straight-laced Robert Casadezou
recording from the early 1950s.
And I think that one almost goes too far in the other direction because it's literalism
that is just too matter of fact for my taste.
(07:12):
But it was kind of an antidote after hearing some of the more micromanaged versions.
Now you would think that Walter Gieseking in the Pavan would be similarly Apollonian
and straightforward and on the cool and matter of fact side.
Because Gieseking often could be that kind of pianist.
(07:33):
But his recording of the Pavan in his 1954 Ravel cycle for the EMI label uses a wide
berth of tempo fluctuation, but he does so tastefully and masterfully and in careful
proportion.
It's a very personalized reading, but it's one that makes you want to go back and listen
(07:56):
to it several times through because there's a lot going on there.
Now for something more like a funeral march than a Pavan, we have to turn to Sviatoslav
Richter.
His tempo in this piece has always been too slow for my taste, but his impeccable balances
(08:18):
between the hands and his mesmerizing legato articulation really hold my attention.
I'm talking about Richter in 1960 in his December Carnegie Hall and Mosque theater
recordings for RCA Victor.
These were professionally recorded and Richter really was in his prime in those years.
(08:42):
This is slow and purposeful Richter as opposed to the slow and boring Richter that you often
got in his later years.
Okay, so it is now time to reveal the party record version of the Pavan.
It's with the pianist Dejan Lazic on Challenge Classics.
(09:05):
He begins the Pavan with these horribly cloying staccato jabs and the accompaniment in the
left hand that sound like a caricature of Glenn Gould.
He mauls the basic tempo up and down and sideways and middle inside out and in all directions.
(09:28):
He exaggerates Ravel's dynamics to the point where the musical line just disintegrates.
It becomes deader than the dead princess.
I don't know if this pianist was sincere in his conception or misconception as it were
or if this was a case of deliberate sabotage.
(09:48):
This is a pianist who really knows better because he has made some wonderful recordings.
He has one of the best recordings for example of the Schubert B flat sonata, the possumist
sonata, Deutsch no. 960.
That's a marvelous recording.
So while I have your attention, I guess I should mention a few of my favorite orchestral
(10:10):
versions of the Pavan.
Maybe the best balanced and most transparent of all of them is the one with George Sell
and the Cleveland Orchestra.
But I also like the expansiveness and the vocally informed string pizzicati and the
beautiful first desk soloists in the recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Carlo
(10:35):
Maria Giuliani.
I just listened to that after not having heard it for years and I was thoroughly enchanted.
There is a recent version with the Basque National Orchestra under the direction of
Robert Trevino and this is just a gem and it is so gorgeously recorded.
(10:56):
Now of course you will have your favorite orchestral versions and you don't have to
write to me about them because I know that you know what they are, I know what they are
and we've all heard them.
I'm talking about the recordings of Cantelli in the Philharmonia, Seggio Zawa in the Boston
Symphony, Charles Munch in the Boston Symphony, the Jean Martinon recordings, the one with
(11:22):
his French Orchestra and also the one he did with the Chicago Symphony, Paul Parais in the
Detroit Symphony.
You know Paul Parais' recording is interesting because his first desk horn soloist has a
little bit of that Russian vibrato.
I'm kind of exaggerating.
(11:45):
Oh yeah, you know there's this unbearably slow yet not too shabbily executed, I must
admit, version with the RAI Torino Orchestra under Sergio Cellabedacchi.
You know of course you have to give it to Cellabedacchi for being slower than everyone
(12:06):
else in the world.
And his recording clocks in at around nine minutes.
Probably the piece takes about six minutes in the orchestral version.
Now I wouldn't say that this rendition is deader than the Dead Princess, but it definitely
depicts a princess who's been on life support for decades or maybe death support.
(12:29):
But I do appreciate your life support of this podcast and thank you for considering a paid
subscription to keep the Piano Maven afloat and supported.
And let's raise a glass to Maurice Ravel and let's wish him a happy 150th birthday as we
(12:50):
dance the pavon.
This is Jed Disler and you've been listening to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast
guide to piano recordings with a couple of orchestral recordings snuck in there today.
We will have more episodes about Ravel's piano music on disc this anniversary year.
You can count on it.
(13:11):
And also check out my episode from the first season of the Piano Maven where I talked about
Ivo Pogorelich and his recording of Ravel's Gaspard Alainoui if you haven't heard it.
That episode generated some interesting discussion among listeners and if you missed that episode,
maybe you'll find it interesting, helpful or even contrary to what you think.
(13:37):
Anyway, thank you for listening and I look forward to you and I being together for our
next episode of the Piano Maven.
Take care.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!