Catalogue

“He maintains dynamic levels across the music’s three staves in perfect perspective … It somehow recalls the square-toed style and concentrated integrity that the older Wilhelm Kempff brought to his Brahms recordings … one must respect the honesty, the forethought and the hard work that these recordings convey” – Gramophone

“Vincent Larderet’s Ravel is a singular work. Is it because he refers to the scores by Vlado Perlemuter (and their annotations, reputed to be by Ravel) … It’s a miracle that the performer manages to convey so much detail in such conditions … reminiscent of Michelangeli – whom Larderet reveres … We can’t wait for the next part of the series, announced as three further volumes.” ★★★★ – Diapason

“Pianistically, Larderet leaves nothing to be desired anyway (the sound is also brilliant and absolutely transparent) and his performances are characterised by crystal-clear chords and sober, plausible horizontal structuring. Larderet’s unpretentiously unobtrusive approach is particularly well suited to the roughened ambiguity of the Valses nobles et sentimentales, and the Miroirs finally become a real adventure for the listener here. A captivating start to an impressive endeavour” ★★★★★ – Fono Forum

“We find the profound honesty – the term is in no way disparaging – of the playing, its limpid articulation that illuminates the architecture of the music like a harmonic landscape, balancing dynamic scale and sound planes with great finesse. (…) the elegance of the style and the refinement of the colours are seductive” ★★★★★ – Classica

“Vincent Larderet’s interpretations are very atmospheric, finely nuanced, with great clarity and richness of detail. His warm and never sharp piano sound is very much at home in Ravel’s music. There is never a lack of clarity and contour” – Pizzicato

“Vincent Larderet established himself as one of the greatest current ravelian … A capital contribution to the ravelian discography” – Cadences Magazine

“Vincent Larderet never sugar-coats Maurice Ravel. Ravel’s notes, by itself, speak grandeur and do not need oversimplification. To that extent, M. Larderet’s first volume of solo piano works “take the cake”. – ConcertoNet

“Throughout this release, Larderet demonstrates impeccable pianistic technique combined with an unusual level of sensitivity to Ravel’s tonal colors and his free and variable treatment of rhythm and harmony” – Infodad

“This fine collection bodes well for the future and we look forward to further volumes from this exceptional pianist” – The Whole Note

“Larderet shows himself to be a commanding interpreter of the composer’s music. Clarity of expression and elegance of phrasing are paramount in performances that achieve a kind of unassuming grandeur with seeming ease” – Textura

“Pianist Vincent Larderet has emerged as a specialist in the music of Ravel … a distinctive Ravel release that stimulates an appetite for the rest of Larderet’s set” – All Music

“right from the first notes it becomes clear that the pianist is not giving us an easy, weightlessly shimmering Ravel. With an earthy piano tone and a flowing structure” – ★★★★★ Piano News

French pianist Vincent Larderet inaugurates a definitive, four-volume series of the composer’s complete works for solo piano, signifying Vincent’s fulfilment of a decades-long devotion his compatriot. This first-ever Urtext compilation of Ravel’s complete works for solo piano is a landmark collection that embraces numerous world-premiere renditions. Many works, whilst familiar, are prepared and recorded from personal scores that were annotated by pianist and pedagogue Vlado Perlemuter during his private study and close collaboration with the composer between 1927 and 1929. These scores reveal invaluable insights to interpretation of such aspects as tempi, pedalling, phrasing and tonal colours. Through his tutelage under Perlemuter’s student Carlos Cebro, Vincent Larderet is a direct inheritor of Ravel’s ethos and interpretive style.

Volume 1 of Vincent’s Ravel survey includes original solo piano versions of the popular Valses nobles et sentimentales and Pavane pour une infante défunte, alongside the five-movement suite Miroirs and Sonatine.

An Introduction: by Vincent Larderet:

“This undertaking of a new complete edition of Ravel’s works for piano in 4 volumes marks the fulfilment of a long process devoted to this composer across my career. After issuing the world-premiere recording of the Suite from Daphnis et Chloé in 2014, it struck me that the tradition of recording Ravel’s piano works on only 2 CDs is a misrepresentation – omitting, as it does, a number of rare or unpublished pieces – and is in need of a rethink in favour of a comprehensive approach. This is particularly to do with the fact that it is the transcriptions that are most commonly passed over, even though they were created by Ravel himself or by some of his collaborators with his approval. What’s more, very often Ravel conceived the same work in a version for piano and another for orchestra. In this first volume alone, two of the pieces from Miroirs (Une barque sur l’océan and Alborada del gracioso), the Valses nobles et sentimentales as well as the Pavane pour une infante défunte were originally composed for piano and later orchestrated by Ravel, showing the validity that transcription can provide, helping to shed new light on his multi-faceted music.

In addition, I’ve been privileged to study the personal scores of Vlado Perlemuter which he annotated following his collaboration with Ravel between 1927 and 1929. These scores have been an infinitely precious resource for me, revealing all sorts of secrets of interpretation: his markings are very detailed and pertain to musical expression as well as to aspects such as tempi, pedalling, phrasing and tonal colours. They highlight the sophistication of the Ravelian style and the aesthetic purity demanded by the composer in which any form of affectation was taboo. They are deserving of being considered authentic Urtexts, and the copious errors perpetrated in published editions have also been corrected.”