Waves: Music by Rameau, Ravel, Alkan

by Bruce Liu

Overview

Pianist Bruce Liu is the Deutsche Grammophon's great young hope, and this is his debut album for the label. Really, it is his debut overall; an earlier album that gained a good deal of attention was a set of competition excerpts. Liu gets all kinds of credit for avoiding the usual formulas for a debut album, and the program here would be interesting no matter where it appeared in a pianist's career. The idea of a unified French tradition running forward from Rameau to the present day has been suggested often enough, and indeed, it is integral to various works by Debussy. Yet nobody has tried to concretize the concept to the degree that Liu does here. His program consists of Rameau, Alkan, and Ravel, with the "Waves" title referring both to a few programmatic pieces ("Une barque sur l'ocean") and to a general dynamic. Liu generates some striking transitions. The opening Gavotte et six doubles of Rameau ("doubles" are variations) play nicely off the variations of Alkan's 12 Etudes in all the minor keys, Op. 39, No. 12, and the rather mysterious Rameau-Alkan segue after the Gavotte et six doubles is compelling. The ornate yet interior quality of Liu's reading of Ravel's Miroirs gives the program cohesion but results in a Miroirs that, by itself, can't quite compete with other versions. Likewise, there are readings of the Alkan Etude that make the piano ring more loudly. On balance, however, this is a recording that makes one want to hear more from the young pianist, and Deutsche Grammophon favors him with fine Teldex Studio sound from Berlin. The album made classical best-seller charts in the autumn of 2023. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	11/03/2023
Label:	Deutsche Grammophon
UPC:	0028948644018
Rank:	71998

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Bruce Liu   Primary Artist,Piano

Technical Credits

Jean-Philippe Rameau   Composer
Maurice Ravel   Composer
Oliver Kreyssig   Production Manager
James Jolly   Liner Notes
Charles-Valentin Alkan   Composer
Michel Brandjes   Piano Technician
Rene Moeller   Mixing,Editing,Recording Producer
Annette Nubbemeyer   Booklet Editor
Angelika Meissner   Executive Producer
Felix Schoen   Liner Note Translation
Thomas Liebchen   Design,Art Direction
Christoph Koestlin   Cover Photo,Photography
Malene Hill   A&R
Leonie Petersen   Product Manager
Dorothea Schlegel   Administration
Jupp Wegner   Engineer
Revna Karacabeyli   Project Coordinator
Vanessa Huss   Creative Concept