Seong-Jin Cho promises an exciting Ravel, but he does not deliver

Maurice Ravel’s entire work for piano may not be that large, but it is certainly one of the most refined and brilliant in the history of music. A seemingly endless amount of recordings have been dedicated to explore this side of the Frenchman’s catalogue, but the truly remarkable ones are scarce.

Seong-Jin Cho’s recent album with the Boston Symphony under the baton of Andriss Nelsons had all the traits of an exceptional work, but the end result unfortunately does not achieve what it hinted to become. 

This recording has mainly two parts: one in which Cho plays material for the piano, in which he actually excels given his domain on both balance and nuances, and the other part he plays alongside the orchestra to deliver a somewhat inconsistent reading of Ravel’s both piano concerti.

His Piano Concerto in G Major starts off quite well, with a delightful energy that allows to offer a dazzling experience. The problem arises in the Adagio, where he takes the sentimental and lyrical character of the piece to a rather corny degree. Things seem to improve at the end, throughout the third movement, but one ends up with the feeling of hearing a missed opportunity.

As to the Concerto for the left hand, the performance is slightly better. Cho is an outstanding pianist, don’t get me wrong, but once again the promise of excitement given at the beginning of the piece fades progressively until the end, which comes off disappointingly weak. 

This album had all the ingredients to win the adjective of “remarkable”. The pianist is quite talented and the orchestra certainly played well, but the overall sensation, affected by the muffled sound of the recording, is that of a story that began with élan but that along the way got depleted in the shape of a broken promise.