Roussel - Bartók - Ravel - Debussy

This live recording of a concert given in Tokyo in November 2024 kicks off with a spikily rhythmic account of Suite No. 1 from Roussel’s ballet Bacchus et Ariane. Conductor Kazuki Yamada achieves a punchy sound with finely detailed string and woodwind playing alongside impactful outbursts of percussion. For Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3, Yamada is joined by the Swiss-Italian pianist Francesco Piemontesi. Piemontesi’s crisp pointing of the opening phrases, and the gleaming trills which follow, are typical of the classy, fluid pianism he brings to bear throughout. He is specially effective in the slow movement, where his transparent tone-palette adds a touching sense of poignancy to Bartók’s leanly etched textures. Two pieces by French masters conclude the album. Yamada’s stylish account of Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales has a suitable mix of élan and elegance, while Debussy’s Images are exuberantly dispatched by a buoyant NHK Symphony Orchestra.