Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit (Lortie, Grosvenor)

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• published: 24 Jan 2016
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Two dazzling performances of a suite whose absurd technical demands (especially in the infamous Scarbo) are easily matched by the precision and craft of its construction. Although both performances are critically acclaimed, they are quite different. Lortie is sumptuous, delicate, limpid. There is a microscopic attention to detail, and you can hear everything that's going on. Grosvenor's performance seems to take seriously Ravel's instruction that when it came to Gaspard, one should not interpret -- just play: precipitous accelerandi [38:10], frankly unbelievable colours [see the sudden change in texture at 25:45], wafer-thin pianissimos [26:31], jagged stabs of light in the murk. The level of virtuosity and control needed to pull off the sort of hyper-precise effects Grosvenor elicits from the piano is quite hard to imagine. If I had to possess only one recording of Gaspard it would probably be this one, rightly beloved as Michalengeli's performance is. Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit has three movements, each based on an image drawn from a poem by Aloysius Bertrand. (As a side, note, it is entirely possibly to analyse Gaspard as a Sonata, because of the elegant economy of its musical construction: consider how much of Ondine is just an elaboration on two musical phrases. Also, the fast-slow-fast arrangement of the movements is fairly typical for a Sonata.) The first movement, Ondine, depicts a water demon trying to seduce the observer into her lake. The technical demands here are readily apparent: quiet but rapid semi-chordal figuration, the passing of legato melody between hands, and maintaining the independence of the hands (especially in the climax: 3:54). The second, Le Gibet, depicts a man hanging from the gallows, silhouetted against a red sunset, while church bells toll in the distance. (Note the B-flat ostinato in 3-3-2 syncopated rhythm which runs through the whole movement.) The third, Scarbo, depicts the nighttime mischief of a goblin lurking in the shadows. This last movement is terrifyingly difficult (repeated notes, hand-crossing, large leaps, interlocking chordal runs, extremely rapid figuration), and features two colossal (if elegant) climaxes. Lortie - 00:00 -- Ondine 06:40 -- Le Gibet 13:20 -- Scarbo Grosvenor -- 22:14 -- Ondine 28:41 -- Le Gibet (Note how Grosvenor accents the ostinato to so that the second beat becomes a near-inaudible echo of the first.) 34:10 -- Scarbo (Grosvenor's attack here is the sharpest and most thrilling I've heard. See 37:31and so on.)