According to the composer Maurice Ravel, Boléro was musically one of his least interesting works, despite its immense popularity.
Performer Biography
Yukie Nagai, the other pianist on this recording, began playing piano at age six in Tokyo and later studied with Hans Leygraf and Wilhelm Kempff.
Performer Biography
Yukie Nagai won a prize at the Geneva International Piano Competition in 1977, along with a special prize for the best Debussy interpretation.
Composition History
The piano score of Rapsodie espagnole, except for the Habanera movement, was written in 1907, preceding its orchestral version from 1908.
Performer Biography
Dag Achatz has won first prizes in the Rudolf Ganz competition in Lausanne (1960) and the Maria Canals competition in Barcelona (1964).
Performer Biography
Dag Achatz, one of the pianists on this recording, was born in Stockholm in 1942 to two musician parents and entered the Geneva Conservatory at age eight.
Composition History
The four-hand piano version of Ravel's Ma Mère l'Oye (Mother Goose) predates its orchestral version.
