Debussy, Fauré & Ravel: Works for Piano & Orchestra Valerie Tryon

• 1 I. Andante ma non troppo - Allegro giusto 08:43
• 2 II. Lento e molto espressivo 07:59
• 3 III. Allegro molto 08:01
• 4 Ballade in F-Sharp Major, Op. 19 (version for piano and orchestra) 15:26
• 5 I. Allegramente 08:48
• 6 II. Adagio assai 09:31
• 7 III. Presto 04:18
• Total Runtime 01:02:46

Info for Debussy, Fauré & Ravel: Works for Piano & Orchestra

With this release, SOMM continues its series with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the remarkable pianist Valerie Tryon. Their close and enjoyable collaboration has already enriched the SOMM catalogue with two previous recordings of works by Cesar Franck, Granados and Turina (SOMMCD 250) and Rachmaninov, Richard Strauss and Dohnanyi (SOMMCD 253).

This release brings together three French works for piano and orchestra. Debussy was in his late twenties when he began work on his Fantaisie for piano and orchestra in October 1889. Although he made revisions to the score, Debussy forbade performance or publication of the work. The first performance was given a year and a half after his death in November 1919 and it has been rarely performed ever since.

Fauré worked on his Ballade for solo piano Op. 19 in the late 1870s and was thirty-two when it was published with a dedication to Saint-Saens in 1877. A few years later he played it for Franz Liszt who may have suggested adding orchestral accompaniment which Fauré decided to do in 1881.

These two works, which quite inexplicably are rarely heard, considering the quality of the music, are coupled with the popular Piano Concerto in G major by Ravel. Ravel undertook a successful four month tour of North America in 1928 appearing as soloist and conductor where he was greatly influenced by the music he heard there, particularly Negro spirituals and that newest form, jazz. He stated himself that it took two years of hard work to complete the composition eventually choosing Marguerite Long as soloist for the premiere which he conducted in January 1932.

Interesting to note that Valerie Tryon had studied with Jacques Février in Paris who remembered, 'When Marguerite Long was learning the Concerto in G major I accompanied her on the second piano. Ravel was behind me and I still remember exactly what he asked of her.'

„Another treat from the remarkable talent that is Valerie Tryon.“ (Music Web International)

„You may well pause to wonder at playing of an often moving, poetic restraint and simplicity. Tryon's Playing has a haunting after-effect, recalled Long after it was heard no more. Gramophone,Jan'16 /// This performance brings much to delight and with the Debussy and Fauré makes for an enticing new release.“ (The Classical Reviewer)

„Valerie Tryon's playing offers beauty of tone,natural musicality and poetic tenderness, differentiating the soundworld of each work.“ (BBC Music Magazine)

Valerie Tryon, piano Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Jac van Steen, conductor

Valerie Tryon
career as a concert pianist began while she was still a child. Before she was twelve she had broadcast for the BBC and was appearing regularly before the public on the concert platform. She was one of the youngest students ever to be admitted to the Royal Academy of Music where she received the highest award in piano playing and a bursary which took her to Paris for study with Jacques Février.

Her place among Britain’s acknowledged artists was assured when a Cheltenham Festival recital brought her the enthusiastic acclaim of the country's foremost critics. Since then she has played in most of the major concert halls and appeared with many of the leading orchestras and conductors in Britain. Her career has latterly taken her to North America where she has appeared in such cities as Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Washington, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. She now lives in Canada where she is the Artist-in-Residence at McMaster University, but spends a part of each year in her native Britain.

Her repertoire is enormous and ranges from Bach to contemporary composers; it includes more than sixty concertos and a vast amount of chamber music. Among British composers, both Alun Hoddinott and John McCabe have dedicated works to her. She is well known for her sensitive interpretations of the romantics — Chopin, Liszt, and Rachmaninov in particular. When the BBC launched its Radio Enterprises record label, some years ago, Valerie Tryon's performance of Rachmaninov's Etudes Tableaux, op. 39, was the first classical disc to be released. More recently she has recorded the complete Ballades and Scherzos of Chopin for the CBC's "Musica Viva" label, which Harold Schonberg of the New York Times described as “the best Chopin recording of the past decade.” Notwithstanding her involvement in the music of the nineteenth century, she retains a deep love of Scarlatti, whose keyboard sonatas she has delighted in playing in public since her childhood and early youth, and to which she remains deeply committed. Likewise, her ongoing series of the complete piano music of Claude Debussy, represents a special passion: she has twice performed this important repertoire in a demanding cycle of five successive recitals.

One of Ms. Tryon’s chief enthusiasms is chamber music. Two of her best-known duo partners in England were Alfredo Campoli (violin) and George Isaac (cello), with both of whom she made a number of significant recordings. Her performance with Isaac of Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata is now considered to be a collector's item.

Since moving to Canada, Ms. Tryon has performed frequently with cellist Coenraad Bloemendal. Both were members of the Rembrandt Trio with violinist Gerard Kantarjian.

Valerie Tryon has been awarded several distinctions for her services to music. She was an early recipient of the Harriet Cohen Medal. More recently the Liszt Memorial Plaque was bestowed on her by the Hungarian Minister of Culture in recognition of her lifelong promotion of Franz Liszt's music.

Booklet for Debussy, Fauré & Ravel: Works for Piano & Orchestra