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Seong-Jin Cho

Ravel - The Complete Solo Piano Works

Deutsche Grammophon
Release Date: January 17, 2025

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Seong-jin Cho- Interview in 2010 (with English Subtitles)
Seong-Jin Cho / 2018 0104 V LIVE, Press Conference
Seong-Jin Cho | TEDxKoreaTechU
Seong-Jin Cho / 2018 1205 JTBC Newsroom
Piano Concerto in E minor, Op. 11 (final stage of the Chopin Competition 2015
1 Se´re´nade grotesque, M_ 5  
2 Menuet antique, M_ 7  
3 Pavane pour une infante de´funte, M_ 19  
4 Jeux d'eau, M_ 30  
5 Sonatine, M_ 40_ I_ Mode´re´  
6 II_ Mouvement de menuet  
7 III_ Anime´  
8 Miroirs, M_ 43_ I_ Noctuelles  
9 II_ Oiseaux tristes  
10 III_ Une barque sur l'oce´an  
11 IV_ Alborada del gracioso  
12 V_ La valle´e des cloches  
13 Gaspard de la nuit, M_ 55_ I_ Ondine  
14 II_ Le Gibet  
15 III_ Scarbo  
16 Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn, M_ 58  
17 1  
18 II_ Assez lent, avec une expression intense  
19 III_ Mode´re´  
20 IV_ Assez anime´  
21 V_ Presque lent, dans un sentiment intime  
22 VI_ Vif  
23 VII_ Moins vif  
24 VIII_ Epilogue_ Lent  
25 Pre´lude in A Minor, M_ 65  
26 A` la manie`re de Borodine, M_ 63_1  
27 M_ 63_2  
28 Le tombeau de Couperin, M_ 68_ I_ Pre´lude  
29 II_ Fugue  
30 III_ Forlane  
31 IV_ Rigaudon  
32 V_ Menuet  
33 VI_ Toccata  
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Having loved Ravel since childhood, Seong-Jin Cho has chosen to mark the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth by recording his complete solo piano music and the two concertos. He is joined in the latter by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons, following acclaimed live performances with them as part of his ongoing focus on the French composer. Cho’s insightful readings of Ravel, on stage and in the studio, underline his status as one of today’s most elegant and accomplished pianists, ten years on from his Chopin Competition victory.

Deutsche Grammophon releases the first of two albums, Ravel: The Complete Solo Piano Works, today. (digitally and on two CDs). The second album, containing the two piano concertos and a deluxe edition will soon follow!

Seong-Jin Cho has always felt a close connection with the French piano literature and found himself fully immersed in Ravel while studying at the Paris Conservatoire. Discussing the challenges of the solo works, he points to the composer’s orchestral sound and meticulous attention to detail. “Ravel really knew what he wanted, so I try to follow his specific markings,” he says. “Miroirs, for example, is incredibly technically demanding. It’s so sensitive and dramatic, full of imagination and colour – it’s almost impossible to apply every marking, but I try my best!”

Recent reviews suggest he knows exactly how to realize Ravel’s wishes. Following a recital in Madrid in March, Scherzo hailed Cho as “perhaps the finest Ravel interpreter of our time”, while after his Edinburgh Festival recital, The Scotsman wrote, “With what seemed like impossibly perfect precision, the first half of all Ravel heard Cho in a contrasting and extensive range of colour, coupled with a sense of flow that allowed the music to breathe with ease and warmth.”

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