Roger Muraro
The French pianist Roger Muraro has emerged as an important, almost official interpreter of the piano music of Olivier Messiaen, having studied with the composer's wife, Yvonne Loriod. He has also been noted as a performer of Liszt and Ravel, combining virtuoso skills with a deep, almost personal connection to the music.
Muraro was born in Lyon, France, on May 13, 1959 to parents from the Venice region in Italy. He grew up in a small town near Lyon and tried to join a local football (soccer) team, but, turned down, was enrolled by his parents in a band instead, taking up the saxophone. At age 11 he enrolled at the school program of the Lyon Conservatory as a saxophonist, but he also studied the piano on his own and made enough progress that his saxophone teacher suggested he take formal lessons. He auditioned at the Paris Conservatory and did not succeed in the regular competition but was noticed by Loriod, who invited him to join her class. Muraro made rapid progress, winning several prizes at the Conservatory while financing his education by teaching saxophone at a local school. Muraro also studied with Eliane Richepin. He placed fourth in the 1986 Tchaikovsky Competition and went on to a busy career as a recitalist and concerto soloist. At first he was especially identified with Messiaen's music, especially after the composer raved about his performance of the Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus, but he has also performed the music of most of the Romantic virtuosi: not only Liszt and Ravel, but also Rachmaninov, Schumann, Beethoven, Albéniz, Chopin, Schumann, and Debussy. He has appeared as soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, and many French orchestras. Muraro recorded the Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jésus twice in the 1990s and by the late 2010s had issued about 20 albums, mostly on the Musidisc and Accord labels. A notable feature of his recording career is that some of his recorded performances were plagiarized and issued under the name of British pianist Joyce Hatto, under still-disputed circumstances; his playing earned critical praise in that form. In 2018 Muraro issued an album combining Debussy's 12 Etudes with a reconstruction of a Messiaen work, Fauvettes de l'Hérault - Concert des garrigues.
© James Manheim /TiVo
Discography
21 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Ravel: Concertos pour piano; Le tombeau de Couperin; La Valse
Roger Muraro, Orchestre Symphonique De Bale, Hubert Soudant
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, Boléro, Ma mère l'Oye, Le Tombeau de Couperin
Myung-Whun Chung, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Roger Muraro
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 12 Sep 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Etudes - Messiaen: Fauvettes de l'Hérault - Concert des garrigues
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 30 Nov 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: The Piano of Tomorrow (Bonus Track Version)
Classical - Released by La Dolce Volta on 17 Sep 2015
4F de Télérama24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Oliver Messiaen: Des Canyons aux étoiles
Roger Muraro, Orchestra Philharmonic De Radio France, Myung-Whun Chung
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Liszt. The Piano of Tomorrow
Classical - Released by La Dolce Volta on 17 Sep 2015
4F de Télérama24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: L'oeuvre pour piano
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Intégrale Piano Seul
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Sonate No.2 Op.36; Moments musicaux
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Messiaen : Turangalîla-symphonie, I/29 (Live)
Roger Muraro, Valerie Hartmann-Claverie, Tonkünstler-Orchester, Yutaka Sado
Symphonies - Released by Tonkunstler Orchestra on 28 Sep 2018
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Messiaen: Catalogue d'oiseaux
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin-Récital (Exclusive digital album)
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Messiaen: Préludes & Fauvette des jardins
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Concerto pour piano et orchestre n° 1 / /Moussorgsky: Les tableaux d'une exposition
Roger Muraro, Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, Gintaras Rinkevicius
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Messiaen: Vingt regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Harmonies poétiques et religieuses
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: 8 Polonaises
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Messiaen: Petites esquisses, Etudes de rythmes, Canteyodjaya, Hommage P. Dukas, Prelude 1964
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Albéniz: Ibéria
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Step Right Up
Roger Muraro, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Benjamin Shwartz
Classical - Released by Naxos on 22 Nov 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Les années de pélerinage - Première année: Suisse / Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, Transcription Piano par Liszt
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 17 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo