Ivan Moravec Plays French Keyboard Masterpieces: Franck, Ravel, Debussy

Ivan Moravec Plays French Keyboard Masterpieces

César Franck, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy

Ivan Moravec, piano

Vai Audio 1043

Reviews

American Record Guide:
... some of the most beautiful piano playing you will ever hear.

Fanfare:

Moravec's awesome control and imagination make these discs a must for pianophiles.

Amazon.com:

Here are two CDs of Ivan Moravec's famous Connoisseur Society recordings from the 1960s. Most of the music is Debussy, a composer whose music glows through the pianist's tonal colorations and imagination. You may never hear Clair de Lune played with more beautiful sound and less affected delivery. Moravec's Ravel doesn't sound just like Debussy, as it shouldn't; the tone is just as beautiful but the rhythms are outlined more strongly. The Franck work, his most popular for solo piano, comes off here as sheer magic.

Amazon.com:

Ivan Moravec has a way of becoming everybody's "definitive" performer for the composers he chooses to add to his rather select repertoire. Debussy is no exception.

Many lovers of Debussy have compared Moravec to Gieseking and Michelangeli for the liquid beauty and clarity that he brings to this music. In the case of Moravec, however, we are blessed with great recorded sound (alas, not the case with the older masters).

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[Disc 1] Franck: Prélude, choral et fugue Recorded: May 1962 Manhattan Towers, New York Ravel: Sonatine Recorded: 1969 Musikverein, Vienna Debussy: Clair de lune (Suite Bergamasque) Debussy: Children's Corner Suite                 Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum                 Jimbo's Lullaby                 Serenade for the Doll                 Snow is Dancing                 The Little Sheperd                 Golliwog's Cake-walk Recorded: 1967 Manhattan Towers Hotel, New York [Disc 2] Debussy: Preludes Feux d'artifice La Cathédrale engloutie Les Collines d'Anacapri Les Sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir La Terrasse des audiences du clair de lune Recorded: 1967 Manhattan Towers Hotel, New York Debussy: Jardins sous la pluie (Estampes) Debussy: Preludes La puerta del vino Ondine Feuilles mortes Debussy: Pour le piano Prelude Sarabande Toccata Recorded: 1969 Musikverein, Vienna

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On the CD cover:

Haystack, Morning Snow Effect, 1891, by Claude Monet

(Meule, effet de neige, le matin)

It is mesmerizing painting in both their simplicity and complexity – all at the same time! Haystacks is a twenty-five canvas series, known for its thematic use of repetition to show differences in perception of light across various times of day, seasons, and types of weather. The series is among Monet's most notable works.