In the main, Valerie Tryon illuminates Ravel’s ravishingly refined piano writing with rounded corners and pastel shadings, in contrast to the more firmly etched rhythms and wider dynamic variation that characterizes much of Angela Hewitt’s contemporaneous cycle on Hyperion. You could imagine longer lines and subtler textural differentiations in Une barque sur l’océan and La vallée des cloches (both from Miroirs), or more drive and power to the repeated notes in Alborada del gracioso (Miroirs) or Scarbo (Gaspard de la nuit). Conversely, Tryon’s sensitive voicings and nuanced colorations in the shorter works simply delight my inner and outer ears. What the sonics lack in detailed immediacy are compensated by a genuine sense of a grand piano projecting in an intimate hall. The notes include an interesting interview with Alan Walker, where Tryon offers vivid recollections of her teacher Jacques Février. I look forward to Tryon’s second Ravel volume from APR.
