Bernstein Rescues the Ravel Piano Concerto

I love discovering recordings I've owned for a while but have never actually listened to. I was in my car yesterday stuck in traffic and decided to listen to Leonard Bernstein's recording of the Ravel Piano Concerto (New York Philharmonic / Bernstein conductor and soloist). Years ago I bought a 3 CD Sony set featuring Bernstein at the keyboard but I never got around to listening to the Ravel because as some of you know all too well Ravel and I don't mix.

I've always had a specific problem with the Ravel G major concerto. Gershwin famously traveled to Paris to study with Ravel in the late 1920's and Ravel turned him away. The famous anecdote is that Ravel asked Gershwin how much money he made the prior year on his Broadway shows, and when he replied Ravel answered, “Maybe instead I should study from you.” At least Gershwin got “An American in Paris” out of the trip. In any case, Ravel turned around two years later and wrote his own version of a jazz-inspired (Gershwin-inspired?) piano concerto without any of the true feel for the idiom that Gershwin had in his bones.

And this is precisely what makes this recording so interesting. This is by far the jazziest interpretation of the Ravel G Major I've heard. I don't mean that Bernstein “jazzes it up” in the sense that he interjects jazz where it doesn't belong, but Bernstein executes the jazz idiom from a position of strength that few classical artists (save perhaps Andre Previn and a small handful of others) are in a position to do. This is a revelatory and yields a truly convincing interpretation. It may not be the only way to approach this piece, but in the moment you believe that it is. Bernstein the conductor is also the perfect foil for Bernstein the soloist. His execution of rhythms and his imposition of jazz inflections, particularly in the wind parts (which knowing Bernstein may actually have been in the score all along) completely changes my perception of the piece and IMHO for the better.

The recording is available on Amazon Marketplace on CD in two different incarnations. The version I have is entitled “Leonard Bernstein: A Portrait” which features him as piano soloist in Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1, Mozart Piano Concerto No. 25 K.503, Shostakovich Piano Concerto #2, Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue, this Ravel G Major Concerto, the Mozart g minor Piano Quartet K.493, and the Schumann Piano Quintet.  The Ravel is also available on a single Sony CD coupled with 16-year-old Andre Watts in Liszt PC #1, and Gary Graffman in Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. It also can be found in its original vinyl incarnation couple with the Shostakovich PC #2. Strongly recommended.