Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Piano Concerto in D major for the left hand

A bold programme from an orchestra with a bold sound as the ISO trails in the wake of Storm Ciara on its debut UK tour. 

Jean-Yves Thibaudet was the soloist for a stylish account of Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the left hand, and the complete music for Daphnis et Chloé filled out the program.

Impressive Ravel from Benedetto Lupo, with pleasing Debussy and Delius, and a strong performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring from Juanjo Mena and the LPO.

Maurice Ravel opened his 1928 tour of the United States conducting a series of concerts with the Boston Symphony featuring his own music.

An enjoyable concert of Nights in the Gardens of Spain, Ravel's Piano concerto for the Left Hand and Nielsen's Symphony no. 5 by the Mexican duo Carlos Prieto and Jorge Osorio. 

Like Sibelius, Florent Schmitt was another composer of great longevity. This concert saw an opportunity to hear his Symphony No. 2 paired with Sibelius' Symphony No. 3, with two piano pieces by Ravel and Franck in the middle.

Ravel and Prokofiev offer divergent views on the piano left-hand concerto, but fine performances ensure satisfying contrast.

Games of various types pirouetted in and out of Les Siècles' Gallic programme last night, from Debussy's play of the waves in La Mer to the shenanigans of a distinctly adult game of tennis in his ballet Jeux.

A programme based around aquatic themes visited the choppy waters of Scandinavia and the calmer tides of the Mediterranean before plumbing the shallows of an unfathomable recent work.  

To mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, Mark Elder and the London Symphony Orchestra brought together music with a connection to the First World War.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Søndergård, was joined by pianist Alexandre Tharaud, presenting strong performances of familiar French composers.

Markus Stenz conducted the Hallé in a fascinating programme of Henze, Ravel, Liszt and Beethoven at Bridgewater Hall.

The monumental shadow of Pierre Boulez loomed rather too large over Ravel's Left Hand Concerto and the full Firebird in François-Xavier Roth's detailed readings.

Andrew Gourlay conducts the BBC Philharmonic in piano concertos by Ravel and Rachmaninov, with Noriko Ogawa, Martin Roscoe, Kathryn Stott and Martin Roscoe taking turns at the keyboard.

City of Light: Paris 1900-1950 was the stimulus behind an evening of impressive performances of inspirational music by Ravel and Stravinsky.

With murky machinations in the low strings and piercing, vivid woodwind solos above, Harrison Birtwistle’s Night’s Black Bird and Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major have surprisingly similar openings.

Judging by this evening’s performance, the future of music-making in Birmingham is in safe hands. Following an intensive half-term week’s training, including sectional coaching by musicians from the parent orchestra, 100 eager and accomplished 14- to 21-year-olds brought the Symphony Hall stage to life.

Continuing with Sibelius, the Sydney Symphony presented another Finnish epic in their latest concert, this time Sibelius’ Kullervo Symphony. However, first of all we were treated to a Ravel masterpiece, his Piano Concerto in D for the left hand.This concerto was commissioned by the pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm in World War I.

Sir Simon Rattle is an uncommonly gifted conductor of early 20th-century French music – Debussy, Ravel, and the like. The intrigue of this concert, then, radiated not from the rostrum but mostly from the orchestra itself.

The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Jean-Marie Zeitouni crafted an intriguing program tonight with orchestral music by four great masters of rhythm: Bartók, Ravel, Boulez and Stravinsky. The result of this brilliant selection of works was a concert as unique and colorful as the works it featured.

The Pastoral Symphony is perhaps an optimistic choice for January in Manchester, but for a short while all memory of the deluge outside evaporated in the Bridgewater Hall.Olivier Messiaen’s suite L’Ascension opened the concert with serene, otherworldly modality in a masterfully sculpted brass chorale.

When you go to see a student orchestra play a concert, your expectations are generally lower than with professional orchestras. And so, when the Symfonieorkest of the Amsterdam Conservatory and soloists from the same Conservatory came to Leiden with an exciting program of Ravel, Prokofiev, Dvořák and Janáček, I thought it’d be a fun night, but not necessarily impressive.

Paul Wittgenstein (brother of famous philosopher Ludwig) was a well-known pianist before he lost his arm in the First World War. Instead of quitting music, he perfected his left hand skills and commissioned a few composers, including Britten, Hindemith, Prokofiev and R. Strauss to write pieces for him.

Listening to an orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall is a bit like watching a gladiatorial contest between the orchestra and the hall. If the orchestra prevails, the sound comes through clean and well-defined. If not, the hall's giant size and booming acoustic turn the results to mush.

Sous la direction de Yannick Nézet-Séguin, l'orchestre montréalais interprétait Elgar (avec Stéphane Tétreault), Ravel (avec Alexandre Tharaud) et Debussy. Retour sur une première qui en appelle d'autres.

Nézet-Séguin dirgiert sein Orchestre Métropolitain in insgesamt sieben Konzerten in Europa. In beiden Programmen wird auch jeweils ein Stück eines Komponisten aus Quebec gespielt.

La Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi, bajo el título Revuelto ruso, ofreció un agradable revuelto de sensaciones, desde la emoción a flor de piel en la primera parte a cargo de Joaquín Achúcarro, hasta la montaña rusa sonora de Shostakovich con la que se puso punto y final al concierto.

Vision pénétrante, lucide d'Alan Gilbert dirigeant l'Orchestre de Paris et intelligence sonore rare chez Marc-André Hamelin. Au programme : la Symphonie n°4 de Schumann, le Concerto pour la main gauche de Ravel, et Amériques de Varèse.

Retour sur le premier concert de la série « Symphonie » de l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, entièrement dédié à Ravel. 

Dutoit a embarqué le Royal Philarmonic de Londres dans un délice de musiques ravéliennes portées aux nues. On se souviendra longtemps de cette belle soirée à Montreux qui, envoûtée par des musiques si solaires, se transforma, le temps d’un concert, en sublime rivage méditerranéen. 

La gauche adroite de François Dumont concurrence la souplesse de Daphnis et Chloé.

Pour un des derniers concerts de la saison, l’ONCT affichait un programme entièrement français et s’attachait à la filiation entre Maurice Ravel et Henri Dutilleux.