Search - Ravel, De Larrochaf, Foster :: Ravel, Fauré, Franck: Music for Piano & Orchestra [Australia]

A Treasured Alicia De Larrocha Album Surfaces!

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 08/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Now and then up pops a re-mastered album that was at one point in time a definitive recording, only to disappear from the public eye and ear for reasons unknown. Such is the case with this luxurious set of French music, well programmed and beautifully performed.



Alicia De Laroccha has always enjoyed an affinity for the two Ravel Piano Concerti. Her straight forward, no nonsense approach to the difficulties inherent in these works is balanced with a lyricism that is melting in beauty. In addition to the Ravel pieces she also offers here the rarely heard Gabriel Faure 'Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra', a work this listener had never heard prior to this recording. It is not a great piece of writing but it does embrace Faure's gift for orchestration and deserves a larger exposure.



The all French program is capped by Cesar Franck's 'Variations Symphoniques For Piano & Orchestra', another work not frequently performed and while it has moments of fine lyrical beauty, they are interspersed with some prosaic writing. Lawrence Foster and Raphael Frubeck de Burgos share the podium with the London Philharmonic with fine conducting. This is an unusual but fine CD and one that has been missing for too long a period of time. Grady Harp, August 06

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