When I listen to the music of Ravel I feel like I’m seated at the foot of Le Lion de Belfort in Montparnasse, at dusk, watching the world pass by. Perhaps it’s the impressionistic nature of his music that stirs my imagination – it’s so sensual and modal, and so quintessentially French. Bertrand Chamayou has recorded Ravel’s entire solo piano output on two CDs, and it’s this repertoire that embodies these appealing qualities. Jeux D’eau – among the best-known presented here – is virtuosic on paper, but rendered millpond calm by Chamayou. That’s the beauty of Ravel – in the right hands his music is all at once marvellous, calming, and tremendously evocative. I enjoyed hearing for the first time À la manière de …Chabrier, and was pleasantly surprised to discover snippets of Gounod’s aria Faites lui mes aveux. It’s a playful mix of three French composers, and reveals Ravel’s childlike side. But the triumph here is Ziloti’s transcription of Kaddisch from Ravel’s Mélodies Hébraïques. Ziloti was a student of Liszt – famous for his own many transcriptions – and the wordless Mélodies Hébraïques is an affecting finale to an impressive and haunting recording.

Alexandra Mathew