Gaspard de la nuit

Maurice Ravel

Recordings

Top Choice

Ivo Pogorelich

1982

Gil's first choice (coupled with Prokofiev 6). 'Wonderful, beautiful color and tone, very probing poetically, dramatic and virtuosic.' He 'wonderfully colors the different moods of the work.' 'Excellent version.'

Also Worth Hearing

Samson François

1967

François has a 'very dramatic style... very emotive and assertive. Flamboyant even.' The last movement (Scarbo) is 'particularly intense and dramatic.' 'Pretty well recorded.'

Martha Argerich

1974

An 'excellent version' with 'customary virtuosity, strong tone,' and 'very impassioned, very colorful' playing. 'Good sound.'

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

1959 Live in London

A 'wonderful interpretation' that is 'really evocative, kind of transports you to this different world.' Michelangeli's technical skill allowed his 'creativity [to] come out' in this 'gorgeous and exciting' live performance.

Walter Gieseking

early 1950s

A 'colorful, characterful version' of Gaspard, part of a larger Ravel collection (including Miroirs and Jeux d'eau) in mono.