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Ravel - Piano Concerto in G - II Adagio Assai / Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

albireo

albireo

pfm Member
I think this is the greatest Adagio from any piano concerto ever composed, in the immortal interpretation by Benedetti Michelangeli.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlBIOOLcWLM

I ignored this quote until today:

"The G-major Concerto took two years of work, you know. The opening theme came to me on a train between Oxford and London. But the initial idea is nothing. The work of chiseling then began. We've gone past the days when the composer was thought of as being struck by inspiration, feverishly scribbling down his thoughts on a scrap of paper. Writing music is seventy-five percent an intellectual activity." (M Ravel)
 
albireo said:
We've gone past the days when the composer was thought of as being struck by inspiration, feverishly scribbling down his thoughts on a scrap of paper. Writing music is seventy-five percent an intellectual activity." (M Ravel)
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I watched a documentary on Philip Glass recently and he said pretty much the same thing, that composing the music comes through work. Isn't it true of every endeavor though! Only after all the work does it become art.

I will watch the video later, thank you.
 
Having no clue about how composition is done I'm struggling to respond. I must say though that even writing argumentative responses on PFM, I find myself constantly refining my language.

Whatever... Beautiful music which is new to me.

Thank you.

Mull
 
And a perfectly crafted movement it is too. The Rachmaninov 4 coupling on my copy is also out of this world.

Another interpretation of the Adagio that I find deeply moving is this one. The way she fractionally delays the G sharp at the end when it finally gets back to E major is sheer magic. Oh, and the Prokofiev coupling is, for me definitive.

Two of my all time favourite records.
 
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Stunsworth said:
All excellent, but the thing with the Shostakovich is the lushness of the melody. Not something a lot of people associate with the composer.
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It's certainly a good melody and the surprise of F major as it's introduced combined with that chord iii the next bar gets me every time.

I still treasure the CFP record with Dmitri Alexeev. Best £2.25 I ever spent and I've never heard it bettered (I have, however, heard it murdered a few times including this year's Proms).
 
Nic Robinson said:
I still treasure the CFP record with Dmitri Alexeev. Best £2.25 I ever spent and I've never heard it bettered (I have, however, heard it murdered a few times including this year's Proms).
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I have the same recording. Years since I've played it, record deck out of action.
 
I also recommend the version by Jean-Phlippe Collard and Lorin Maazel, which is excellent while quite different for the Michelangeli. The second movement flows in a beautiful, natural and unforced way. His Concerto for the Left Hand ain't too shabby either.
 
I have 5 or 6 versions of the Ravel G minor, but the one that does it best for me (especially that divine slow movement) is Martha Argerich's with Claudio Abbado and the LSO from 1980s. They recorded it together in the 1960s with the BPO and that's a celebrated recording too, but the LSO remake is even better IMO.
 
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