This video clip is an excerpt from FanFaire’s interview with Jean-Yves backstage at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on April 1, 2024 following his performance of Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the LA Philharmonic), which he served up to an enthusiastic audience with élan vital and characteristic brilliance. Jean-Yves combined his superb fingerwork with masterful pedaling, making this powerful and occasionally dark piece, which Ravel composed by necessity for one hand, sound - even to the tutored ear - like a concerto for both hands, ending as it did in a veritable orchestral explosion that echoed the piece’s wartime origins.
In this video, Jean-Yves talks about the nuances of Ravel’s Left Hand Piano Concerto and why for the longest time, it was the only piece for piano by Ravel that he shunned, only to become one of his favorite concert pieces.
CLICK BELOW to listen to some clips (courtesy of Deutsche Gramophone):
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LENTO |
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ALLEGRO |
Following the concert, Thibaudet and Salonen held a lively Q & A session with audience members who stayed to learn more about the artists’ insights into the program’s unusual pieces.
ALSO: Watch Jean-Yves talk about his long-standing love affair with Ravel’s Piano Concerto - in G major (for both hands, of course!) which began when he was but a little boy of 6! And read about his performance of this piece with the Bostons Pops Orchestra, Keith Lockhart conducting.
