In most respects Philippe Entremont’s 2003/04 Ravel recordings significantly improve upon his older cycle available on Sony Essential Classics. He’s still rather a hard-toned player, and he relies on the sustain pedal a great deal more than he used to, sometimes to the point of overdoing it (in parts of Le Tombeau de Couperin and Gaspard de la nuit’s difficult outer movements, for example). Yet Cascavelle’s warm sonic ambience both flatters and absorbs Entremont’s sonority. Melodic lines retain their previous fullness with more breathing room this time in the Sonatine and in the short pieces. Le Gibet’s repeated B-flats retain their earlier insistence, but not their earlier pounded-out qualities. Each movement of Miroirs proves less notey and more nuanced now, the gentler sections of Vales nobles et sentimentales are more flexible and caressing, while Entremont and pianist Laura Mikkola project the four-hand selections (Sites auriculaires and Ma Mère l”oye) in broad, stylish keystrokes. To be certain, other pianists play Ravel with more delicacy and polish, yet the music truly resonates under Entremont’s knowing, singing fingers, as if he had been born playing it.
