Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
Introduction and Allegro · Piano Trio in A minor · La Valse (two-piano version) · String Quartet in F major
The Nash Ensemble
Lucy Wakeford (harp) · Philippa Davies (flute) · Richard Hosford (clarinet) ·
Stephanie Gonley, Jonathan Stone, Benjamin Nabarro (violins) ·
Lars Anders Tomter (viola) · Adrian Brendel (cello) ·
Simon Crawford-Phillips, Alasdair Beatson (piano)
Label: ONYX Classics
Recording: Yehudi Menuhin School, Surrey (April 2025)
Available on all streaming platforms
By Damián Autorino
Editor at Moto Perpetuo
This new Ravel album by the Nash Ensemble brings together some of the composer’s most significant chamber works, spanning different moments of his creative life while revealing a striking consistency of musical thought. Even away from the orchestra pit, Ravel’s writing is marked by an acute awareness of instrumental colour, balance, and texture — qualities that emerge with particular clarity in chamber music.
The release follows closely on the ensemble’s earlier Debussy recording this year, pointing to a sustained focus on early-20th-century French repertoire. In this context, Ravel appears not as a contrast but as a continuation: a composer whose music treats chamber forces as a kind of miniature orchestra, in which individual timbres remain distinct while contributing to a tightly integrated whole.
That approach aligns naturally with the Nash Ensemble’s identity. Long associated with contemporary music and collaborative chamber playing, the group works here as a true ensemble, while allowing each instrument its own space and character. This balance proves especially effective in works such as the Introduction and Allegro, where Ravel’s sensitivity to instrumental capabilities is central to the music’s expressive impact.
The album also highlights the historical dimensions of these pieces. The Piano Trio, written on the eve of the First World War, reflects both formal experimentation and a sense of underlying tension; La Valse, composed in the post-war years, transforms the Viennese waltz into something darker and more unstable; and the String Quartet, an early work, already reveals a fully formed voice negotiating its relationship with Debussy without losing individuality.
Beyond repertoire, the recording carries particular significance for the ensemble itself. It became the final artistic project marking the end of Amelia Freedman’s 60 years as artistic director of the Nash Ensemble. Freedman died in July 2025, shortly after the completion of this project, lending the album an added sense of closure — not as a memorial gesture, but as the culmination of a long and carefully shaped artistic vision.
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