DAVID KOREVAAR

• Maurice Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin - Rigaudon

"It is no doubt due to the technical mastery required to tackle Ravel’s unique phrasings and his sense of dynamics. David Korevaar has that, but so do many other pianists. But when it comes to a matter of sensibility, of knowing how to mold a line and keep it clean and separate from others that might be competing for our attention at the same time, of realizing Ravel’s fine gradations of color and dynamics and keeping things balanced in a truly symphonic structure, he is clearly in the small circle of those who know how to do this composer well. Ravel put his piano pieces together very meticulously, like gems in a setting, often over long periods of time, so that the ideal Ravel interpreter has to be something of a lapidary as well. And finally, one needs to get beyond structural matters and deal with the very expressive qualities of the music. Korevaar has what it takes to do that, too... An artist like Korevaar can help us see and feel it all."

Phil Muse, Audio Society of Atlanta = September 2011

"... Korevaar delves into some of the toughest keyboard music to bring off technically ... yet he has the artistic integrity and aesthetic taste to make this album more than an exhibition of his obvious virtuosity. There are nuances and shadings in Korevaar's playing that are far more interesting to explore than his mastery of Ravel's pyrotechnics; note his subtle dynamics in Oiseaux tristes or Ondine, and his maintenance of suspense in the repeated notes of Le gibet, and it becomes apparent that Korevaar has more interest in painting colors and bringing out hidden inner voices than merely showing off. ... Le tombeau de Couperin is his best display, not merely for his brilliant prestidigitation, but more importantly for [the] lush orchestral timbres and the careful balancing of neo-Baroque transparency with the nostalgic haze of Impressionism. The reproduction is clean and enjoyably realistic."

All Music Guide (Answers.com) - June 2006

"Korevaar [is blessed with a recording of crystalline clarity]...[he] imparts an extra sensitivity to the dynamics and phrasing...his playing...is certainly impressive. Recordings are excellent."

American Record Guide - January/February 2006

"This Ravel disc finds Korevaar on ground on which he obviously feels ...at home. Miroirs is given a thoughtful and sensitive reading. The bleak world of 'Oiseaux tristes' is particularly well captured... The extrovert 'Alborada del grazioso' is clearly enjoyed by the pianist here... Worth investigating"

MusicWeb nternational - February 2006

"...David Korevaar's Ravel has a meticulous clarity...every note heard clearly...Korevaar's Miroirs glistens with idiomatic touches...This is splendid playing...Korevaar's reading [of Le tombeau de Couperin] is suitable understated, beautifully balanced...Korevaar's accounts here...are quite outstanding. MSR sound is state of the art."

Fanfare - November/December 2005

"...these seminal piano works of Ravel display David Korevaar’s considerable facility in French neo-classicism...Korevaar’s version packs some loving transitions and terraced dynamics...Excellent, tender piano sound, engineered by Gregory K. Squires."

Audiophile Audition - November 2005

David Korevaar balances an active performing career as a soloist and chamber musician with teaching at the U of Colorado at Boulder, where he is Ass't Professor of Piano. His broad musical interests are reflected in his recordings, ranging from his recent release of Brahms’s Variations for Piano to the two books of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (MSR Classics) to the piano works of Liebermann. He has recorded romantic works of Ernst von Dohnányi, and transcriptions (his own and Liszt's) of orchestral music by Franz Liszt. Other recent releases include a CD by the Prometheus Piano Quartet featuring music by Saint-Saëns and d'Indy; an album of chamber works by Liebermann; complete sonatas for brass Hindemith and the Brahms Violin Sonatas with violinist Anastasia Khitruk.

In addition to his solo appearances, Korevaar performs as a member of the Prometheus Piano Quartet and the Clavier Trio, and as a frequent guest of groups including the Takaçs, Manhattan, and Colorado quartets. He was a founding member of the Young Concert Artists Award-winning piano and wind ensemble Hexagon, with which he toured for many years.

Korevaar was recently honored, along with co-author Tim Smith of Northern Arizona University, with the Editor's Choice Award from MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching) for a web-based exploration of the Fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier, featuring analytical essays and animations by Professor Smith, performance-related essays by Korevaar, and Korevaar's performances of the music. Other honors include top prizes from the University of Maryland William Kapell International Piano Competition (1988) and the Peabody-Mason Music Foundation (1985), as well as a special prize for his performance of French music from the Robert Casadesus Competition (1989). In May 2000, he received the Richard French award from the Juilliard School, honoring his doctoral work on Ravel's Miroirs.

Korevaar’s teachers have included Earl Wild, Abbey Simon, and the French pianist Paul Doguereau (a student of Egon Petri, who worked with Ravel).

Maurice Ravel, an intensely private man, showed two compositional faces to the public: that of a Romantic Impressionist, and (mostly later) that of a Modern Neoclassicist. His piano works encompassed both sides, and the three major works on this disc provide a cross-section, moving from Miroirs, a seminal work of "impressionism," through the almost extroverted Romanticism of Gaspard de la nuit, to the neoclassicism of Le tombeau de Couperin, a tribute in sound and style to the forms and practices of the French Classical harpsichord style.

MSR Classics