DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON AND SEONG-JIN CHO LAUNCH TRIBUTE TO RAVEL’S 150TH ANNIVERSARY WITH CHO’S RECORDING OF THE COMPLETE SOLO PIANO WORKS
The album is released on 17 January 2025 – listen here
A special showcase performance of solo repertoire filmed at the
Siemens-Villa in Berlin will be available to watch on STAGE+ from 11 January
Watch the YouTube premiere of Pavane pour une infante défunte here
at 9.30 am CET on 16 January
Cho begins a series of Ravel anniversary-year live dates at the Vienna Konzerthaus on 25 January
– further performances will take in other prestigious venues across Europe, North America and Asia
“perhaps the finest Ravel interpreter of our time”
Scherzo
17 JANUARY 2025 (TORONTO, ON) — In 2025, the music world will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great French composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). Pianist Seong-Jin Cho marks the occasion with his most ambitious project since signing for Deutsche Grammophon after his victory in the 2015 Chopin Competition. Renowned for his insightful readings of Ravel, Cho will present a set of recordings encompassing the composer’s complete solo piano music and two piano concertos. DG releases the first album, Ravel: The Complete Solo Piano Works, digitally and on 2 CDs on 17 January 2025. A vinyl version (2 LPs) will follow later this year.
A series of audio tracks and performance videos have already been issued for download/streaming: the latest video, for Pavane pour une infante défunte, will be premiered on the DG YouTube channel at 9.30 am CET on 16 January 2025. From 11 January onwards, meanwhile, subscribers to STAGE+ can enjoy his showcase performance of a selection of the solo works filmed at Berlin’s Siemens-Villa in autumn 2024.
“Ravel was an innovative genius,” says Cho. “His works contain endless ideas and colours, as well as deeply felt emotions.” The pianist has loved Ravel since childhood and found himself immersed in his music while he was a student at the Paris Conservatoire. Among other challenges, he notes the specificity of the composer’s markings in the solo works. “Miroirs, for example, is incredibly technically demanding. It’s so sensitive and dramatic, full of imagination and colour – it’s almost impossible to apply every marking, but I try my best!”
The second album in Cho’s Ravel project contains the two piano concertos, in which he is joined by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and its Music Director Andris Nelsons. It will be released digitally and on CD on 21 February 2025, again with a vinyl version (1 LP) to follow at a later date. A deluxe digital edition presenting the complete recordings comes out on 28 March, in time for World Piano Day on 29 March. The CD box set (3 CDs) follows on 11 April.
Seong-Jin Cho continues his focus on Ravel during the anniversary year of 2025. He gives a solo recital at the Vienna Konzerthaus on 25 January. This is followed by a US tour (February/March), including dates at Carnegie Hall and LA’s Walt Disney Concert Hall. In April and May he makes recital appearances at London’s Barbican Centre and venues throughout Germany, notably Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and the Berlin Philharmonie, as part of his season as Artist in Residence with the Berliner Philharmoniker, while more dates will follow in Asia and the US through the summer.