Ravel: The Piano Concertos

Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho releases the second album from his current Ravel project of the two piano concertos, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth (March 7). The album features the Concerto for the Left Hand, a notoriously difficult work that is notable for its dark sonorities, as well as the more lighthearted Concerto in G major that achieves an exquisite combination of jazz and the Classicism of Mozart and Saint-Saëns.

“For me,” says Cho, “the highlight of the Concerto in G is the second movement [Adagio assai] – the long piano solo at the beginning. It’s one of the most touching movements in the piano literature.”

For the two concertos the pianist is joined by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and its music director Andris Nelsons. The full album is released digitally as well as on CD, with a vinyl version to follow.