Hsiang Tu: Ravel: Complete Works for Solo Piano
Da Vinci Classics

Exquisite embroidery, eloquent articulation, and flawless technique inform Taiwan-born Hsiang Tu's renditions of Maurice Ravel's complete piano solo works. Tu was crowned the winner of The Juilliard School Concerto Competition when he made his New York debut at Alice Tully Hall with a performance of Chopin's first concerto; here, however, he dedicates himself wholly to the French composer for a set lasting two hours and thirteen minutes. While he's certainly not the first to tackle Ravel's solo piano music in its entirety, Tu presents a strong argument for his interpretations. That Juilliard award is but one of many Tu's received, incidentally, this Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Florida having also performed with many an orchestra and enjoyed appointments at other academic institutions.

The double-disc set includes sterling readings of multi-part works, among them Valses nobles et sentimentales, Miroirs, and Le Tombeau de Couperin, as well as single-movement settings such as Pavane pour une infante défunte and Menuet antique. They range from the familiar to others less so (depending on the listener, of course), which makes the inclusion of, say, the brief Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn and the two À la manière de… settings noteworthy. Like many a composer, the piano was Ravel's primary instrument, and it's only natural that he left behind a substantial body of solo piano music when he died in 1937. Tu's release was issued to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the composer's 1875 birth, and for those desirous of historical background, Jillian Rogers provides details in the release booklet for all of the material.

We begin with Gaspard de la nuit, written in 1908 and quintessentially impressionistic in respectively basing its movements on a water nymph, bells, and goblin (Aloysius Bertrand's 1842 supernatural poetry collection the literary source). “Ondine” evokes immediately the magical realm of the water nymph who falls for a human and is crestfallen when she's abandoned for another. Flowing figures create the impression of rippling water, on top of which dancing single-note melodies suggest the nymph's voice, during one sequence heard hauntingly alone. Cryptically tolling bells intone throughout “Le Gibet,” whose gloomy mien and oppressive character are far removed from the tone of the opening movement. Titled after the shapeshifting goblin, “Scarbo” adds a macabre element to the work, the mercurial nature of Ravel's writing capturing the unpredictability of the taunting figure and the music's rapidity his darting movements. Tu's virtuosic command is evident throughout this fine rendering, but as impressive are his refined touch and sensitivity to pacing.

From 1905 comes Sonatine, “Modéré” captivating for its finesse and sparkle, “Mouvement de menuet” charming for the graceful dignity of its dance gestures, and “Animé” as rambunctious as anticipated. “Une barque sur l'océan” and the Spanish-flavoured “Alborado del gracioso,” the third and fourth parts of Miroirs, are often performed alone but here appear in their proper sequence within the full suite Ravel composed between 1904 and '05. Imagistic evocation is again pronounced in these soundscapes, be it the flutter of moths' wings that are suggested in “Noctuelles,” the nocturnal birdsong scattered throughout “Oiseaux tristes,” or the turbulent motions of waves during “Une barque sur l'océan.” The less-structured approach Ravel adopted for “Oiseaux tristes” to accurately capture the character of forest birdsong lends the writing an abstract quality that hints at innovations later composers would incorporate into their own piano writing.

The release's second half begins with five standalones, the first a lovely treatment of Pavane pour une infante défunte, written in 1898 and premiered four years later alongside 1901's Jeux d'eau. According to Rogers, Ravel considered the Pavane the less important of the two and was therefore vexed when critics preferred it, deeming it “elegant and charming” and Jeux d'eau “cacophonic and overly complicated” (the composer also apparently grew tired of constantly being questioned about the identity of the dead princess). That being said, there's no denying the wistful beauty of the Pavane; the more elaborate Jeux d'eau alludes in its title to Liszt's Jeux d'eau à la villa d'Este and in its florid fingerwork certainly exhibits some semblance of a Liszt-like character. Composed in 1893 when he was not yet twenty years old and still a student at the Paris Conservatoire, the arresting Sérénade grotesque would have served notice that this was a composer of remarkable sophistication and clearly destined for greatness. One of three minuets on the release, 1897's Menuet antique was Ravel's first published composition and shows him quickly living up to the promise he'd shown at school.

Dominating the second disc thereafter are 1911's Valses nobles et sentimentales and Le Tombeau de Couperin, composed between 1914 and '17 when he was a truck driver during WWI and dealing with the death of his mother. While Ravel described the eight waltzes constituting the earlier work as being “in imitation of Schubert,” they register as Ravel creations above all else. After a grandiose beginning that's impossible to ignore, the work quickly advances into multiple moods and stylistic realms, some gently lyrical, others exuberant and aggressive, and all but the closing two verging on miniatures. Yet even when a part is a mere minute or two long, it still leaves an indelible mark. Each of the six Baroque suite-named movements in Le Tombeau de Couperin was dedicated to a fatality of the war, which helps explain its reverential tone (interestingly, when it was premiered in 1919, some of Ravel's contemporaries, in Rogers' words, “questioned the generally happy affect of the pieces, dedicated as they were to dead soldiers”). No more than a single listen is needed to account for its enduring popularity, from its quicksilver prelude and riveting “Toccata” to its irresistibly radiant “Forlane,” triumphant “Rigaudon,” and poignant “Menuet.”

May 2026