Absolutely wonderful and masterful, though I find his choices of tempo not always ideal: the Prélude a little too fast, the Fugue and Forlane a little too slow, etc. Thanks for uploading all these recent Vedernikov recordings, they deserve to be heard by a wider audience!
Truly, my pleasure! In my genuinely humble opinion, the Fugue simply doesn't work in the tempo he took, I had to listen to Marcelle Meyer to remind myself it's a piece of music and not the academic exercise in fugue writing it appears here. The Forlane, to me, is a different matter: it's part of a genre I like to call the "Vedernikov sarabande", though the rhythm is of course a different one. Compare to Hommage à Rameau or the one from Pour le piano. He plays those slower than even Richter in his "hypnotist mode" but achieves a very distinct effect, I believe!
Agreed about the Fugue! As for the Forlane, suddenly, in Vedernikov's hands, it becomes more Russian than French...it's certainly true that when you play it like this, these magic Ravelian harmonies become more distinct. The problem is that I listened so many times to the recordings of notable French Ravel interpreters such as Perlemuter, Casadesus, Monique Haas and M. de Valmalete (her "Tombeau" is really great!), who all play the Forlane (much) faster, so that I can't get used to this pace... But the Toccata IMO is perfectly judged by Vedernikov! Not too fast, clear and with that bouncing rhythm that is required...he doesn't do anything special, he just plays the notes, he lets the music speak for itself and that's why it has such a tremendous impact!
СПАСИБО. Это великолепное исполнение. Thank you so much. Breathtaking performance.
Absolutely wonderful and masterful, though I find his choices of tempo not always ideal: the Prélude a little too fast, the Fugue and Forlane a little too slow, etc. Thanks for uploading all these recent Vedernikov recordings, they deserve to be heard by a wider audience!
Truly, my pleasure!
In my genuinely humble opinion, the Fugue simply doesn't work in the tempo he took, I had to listen to Marcelle Meyer to remind myself it's a piece of music and not the academic exercise in fugue writing it appears here.
The Forlane, to me, is a different matter: it's part of a genre I like to call the "Vedernikov sarabande", though the rhythm is of course a different one. Compare to Hommage à Rameau or the one from Pour le piano. He plays those slower than even Richter in his "hypnotist mode" but achieves a very distinct effect, I believe!
Agreed about the Fugue!
As for the Forlane, suddenly, in Vedernikov's hands, it becomes more Russian than French...it's certainly true that when you play it like this, these magic Ravelian harmonies become more distinct.
The problem is that I listened so many times to the recordings of notable French Ravel interpreters such as Perlemuter, Casadesus, Monique Haas and M. de Valmalete (her "Tombeau" is really great!), who all play the Forlane (much) faster, so that I can't get used to this pace...
But the Toccata IMO is perfectly judged by Vedernikov! Not too fast, clear and with that bouncing rhythm that is required...he doesn't do anything special, he just plays the notes, he lets the music speak for itself and that's why it has such a tremendous impact!
I'd also cite Claude Helffer (the French Vedernikov?), his Tombeau is as excellent as the rest of his Ravel.
It is, though I think it doesn't have the technical finish of Vedernikov!
Vedernikov is sensational in this regard, isn't he... The cleanliness in the most demanding passages is Hamelin-like!
Magnificent.