Search - Ravel, De Groot :: Miroirs / Gaspard De La Nuit / Valse

Cor de Groot's Ravel

Anton Zimmerling | Moscow, Russia | 04/29/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The market is full with recordings of Ravel's piano recordings, but this recital of the outstanding Dutch pianist Cor de Groot (1914-1993) is a welcome addition to anyone's collection. Cor de Groot' trumps are seen already in the first track - `Noctuelles' from the `Miroirs'. He had a natural phrasing, beautiful touch and was a master of chiaroscuro: he did not belong to the long row of pianists who play Ravel's pianos and pianissimos brutal and loud to appear more virtuosic. In 1930s-1950s Cor de Groot was rated with the best European pianists, but had to interrupt his career due to nervous disorder developed in his right hand, and his recordings are less known as they should.



The label APR specializes in historic releases: their transfers often have a superior sound than the transfers they compete with.In this case I cannot compare, since I don't have the original Philips LPs and am not aware of any other variant of Cor de Groot's Ravel on CD. Anyway, I may state that the studio recordings made in 1951 (track 1-7) and 1974 (track 8) have an excellent sound, while the live 1940 recording of Ravel's G major concerto has an acceptable sound.



While I agree with all the critical points made in the review of Ryan Morris above, I think that this CD deserves five stars - for the sake of its best items: I specially recommend tracks 1(`Noctuelles'), 8 (Valse), and 10 (the Adagio assai from Ravel's concerto). I must confess I am not a great fan of Ravel's `Valse', but in this version for the 2 pianos, performed by Cor de Groot and his compatriot Gérard van Blerk (1924-1997), this poem is simply irresistible. As for the Ravel concerto, I agree that the playing of the Concertgebouw orchestra is at times muddled (the conductor at the podium that evening was not Willem Mengelberg, but his assistant, Eduard van Beinum, otherwise a respectable musician), but this does not prevent me from enjoying the radiant playing of the solo part. This version of the Ravel concerto can hardly be the first pick for most listeners (try Michelangeli Ravel: Piano Concerto in G; Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 4), but the quality of Cor de Groots `Miroirs' items (the most popular piece, No. 4 `Alborada del Gracioso', is sadly omitted, go to Dinu Lipatti's famous recording Dinu Lipatti plays Chopin, Enescu, Ravel, Liszt & Brahms) and `Valse' is so high that if anyone decides on holding them as his/hers *only* recording of these Ravel works, this won't be too extravagant.

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