Description
INTRODUCING THE ARTIST:
Born in Canada, André Laplante quickly established himself as one of the great romantic piano virtuosos of his generation when he won the Geneva Competition, the First International Piano Competition held in Sydney and the Silver Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Since that dramatic introduction, Mr. Laplante has performed in major concert centers throughout Europe, North America and the Far East. In recent years, he has appeared as orchestral soloist at the Kennedy Center, with the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Sir Neville Mariner and with the Toronto Symphony under Andrew Davis. Of his Chicago recital debut, the Chicago Tribune wrote: “…There is a vigorously romantic intensity tempered by an uncommon sensitivity of touch and tonal color…”After such a highly successful introduction to the Chicago public, he was immediately engaged to return for five performances with the Chicago Symphony. He was hailed as the “heir apparent” to his fellow Canadian, the late Glenn Gould, by the Salzburg Volkzeitung.. In the London Guardian and the New York Times Laplante has been called “…a white hope among today’s finest performers…” He also had the pleasure to collaborate with his esteemed colleague Yehudi Menuhin appearing in Philadelphia, Toronto, Montreal, and New York. This recording is André Laplante’s debut on the ÉLAN label.
CRITICAL ACCLAIM:
Nomination for Juno Award, Canada, 1992
The Laplante CD is the best single-disc collection of Ravel’s piano music in the catalog. Laplante’s graceful playing, sensitive rubato, and expressive flair are great assets. The recording is intimate… offering a satisfying concert-hall perspective. The NPR Guide to building a classical CD collection
A caring Ravelian of considerable finesse … impressionably responsive to the composer’s every shimmer and shudder. Gramophone, UK
Laplante’s considerable coloristic skills and almost luxurious spacious tempos enable him to bask in the shimmering resonance of Ravel’s harmonies. … I’ve never heard anything quite like it. … A valuable addition to the Ravel discography. Stereo Review, USA
His playing demonstrates remarkable sensitivity of touch and lyricism, qualities which enable him to bring out the sensuousness of Ravel’s music. The Gazette, Montreal
“…No other recording I’ve heard of Gaspard de la nuit has so generously inflected it with a Chopinesque rubato or used this technique so effectively to give the music an almost physical sense of movement. Laplante’s considerable coloristic skills and almost luxuriously spacious tempos enable him to bask in the shimmering resonance of Ravel’s harmonies. I’ve never heard anything quite like it with the possible exception of Alfred Cortot’s 1931 recording of Sonatine. Stereo Review
