Roughly two-thirds of Michael Rische’s Ravel recital offers truly masterful pianism. Warming up with the tiny Prélude, as lovely and limpid as it can be played, Rische sets the six Miroirs afloat in the air, weaving their intricacies into evocative yet unfailingly lucid sound patterns. Une barque sur l’ocean has rarely sounded so texturally crystalline and rich, while Alborada del gracioso loses none of its sultry subtext within Rische’s nimbly etched fingerwork. And how La vallée des cloches shimmers as each dynamic gradation and color change strokes your inner and outer ears! Pure buttah, and that goes for the engineering too.
Unfortunately, Rische’s Ondine flops all over the place in a pulseless performance bereft of clear articulation and dynamic shape. The pianist gets through the tricky Scarbo without conveying the music’s razor-edged demonica, and blurs important details like the repeated notes that Argerich, Michelangeli, and Pogorelich rattle off with blinding authority. Le Gibet comes off best, with the repeated B-flats in perfect proportion to the ghostly chords that surround them. I also like Rische’s fluid and wistful Pavane, a piece that is actually more difficult to play than it sounds. Too bad I can’t recommend this Gaspard, but mmmmm, the rest…
