Gershwin : Piano Concerto - Ravel : Piano Concerto in G

Chronique

At the outset, Gershwin: Concerto in F; Ravel: Concerto in G major looked promising; Pascal Rogé is well-established as an expert interpreter of Ravel and the Gershwin Concerto in F and Ravel Concerto in G major are often programmed together on recordings by virtue of some stylistic compatibility. This Oehms Classics release is an SACD, and recordings heard heretofore in the format have been nothing less than spectacular. Now that the journey is complete, however, it is clear that Gershwin: Concerto in F; Ravel: Concerto in G major falls short of its potential in several respects. Apart from when the tympani and bass drum are booming, there are apparently little sonic advantages enjoyed with this as compared to a regular CD -- it is muddy, mid-rangy, and lacking in high end, and the first two tracks are significantly quieter than the remainder of the disc. As Bertrand de Billy begins to take the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra through the introduction to the Gershwin, one thinks "Oh no -- this is the way Soviet orchestras used to play Gershwin back in the '60s -- like flat beer and with no swing." Rogé opens the piano solo at a tempo so slow that it's like attending a funeral rather than experiencing the chilly wind of a night in the big city. The second movement, "Blues," is so slowly played that it seems comatose. In the third movement, things pick up a bit, but when the second theme commences the rhythm is more reminiscent of a polka than a line of high-kicking Broadway chorus girls. As expected, the Ravel Concerto in G major is better -- pretty good, actually; Rogé takes the piano part to town, and the orchestra pricks up to a degree, even though there is still a bit more mud than shimmer in Billy's support. In sum, you get one good concerto for the price of two, and with the stupefying number of viable options available in either or both of these works, one cannot imagine why the listener would turn here rather than elsewhere.
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