The piano duet of Philip Moore and Simon Crawford-Phillips
is an eminently talented combination, working effectively together in
the service of the music they perform. And this thoughtfully compiled
programme of French music gives them ample opportunity to display their
talents.
Two of the four items are by Ravel, and it is his arrangement
of Debussy's celebrated Prélude à l'après-midi
d'un faune which opens the recital. This languid music is not at first
sight suited to a piano arrangement, but Ravel knew his craft and loved
the work, to the extent that he described it as 'the only music I know
which is absolutely perfect'. To perform this version of the score is
a great challenge, to which these artists respond with taste and sensitivity,
aided by an atmospheric recording which also allows details to be heard
with the utmost clarity.
The charming sequence of miniatures which make up Bizet's
Jeux d'enfants are also tellingly done, and the music gains considerably
from the attention to details of dynamic nuance which add an important
extra dimension.
Ravel's Mother Goose also exists as a ballet and an
orchestral suite, and each version is equally valid, which is a tribute
to the composer's imagination and technical command. Balances are expertly
projected, for which all praise too to the recording engineers, and
the little touches of nuance and phrasing are a constant delight. Perhaps
the more languid passages, for example in the Pavane de la Belle au
bois dormant and Petit Poucet, could be more tender still (compare the
recent rival EMI version by Laurence Fromentin and Dominique Placade:
5 72526-2), but this is still very pleasing.
The final item, Ravel's La valse, is heard in a duet
arrangement by Lucien Garban. This is altogether sterner, stronger stuff,
and the pianists respond with gusto to the challenge of the quasi-orchestral
thrust which is often present. If the result leaves the listener thirsting
for the orchestral original, it is still exciting in its own right.
Terry Barfoot