CCMusic.com

Pianist Paolo Giacometti presents a fascinating new recording of music by Maurice Ravel that compares the music's sound when played on modern and authentic instruments. Although trained on modern pianos, Giacometti has long been a proponent of period keyboards, having performed on romantic grand pianos by +ërard and Pleyel and older ones by Graf and Streicher. Giacometti's desire to share the interpretive revelations he gained from playing these pianos was the inspiration for this unique project, which features Ravel's Sonatine, Gaspard de la Nuit, Menuet antique and Le Tombeau de Couperin. The 'new' instrument used for the recording is a Steinway. 'New' is in inverted commas because the Steinway grand has hardly changed since the late nineteenth century. The authentic instrument on this CD is an +ërard - one of the most celebrated makers of the nineteenth century. Ravel frequently gave his recitals on a Steinway, while at home he used an Erard when composing.