Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has held a long relationship with Maurice Ravel's music. One of his earliest recital programs was to present the complete works for the Frenchman. Ravel, himself a modest pianist, wrote some of the most difficult music for the instrument, including his Piano Concerto in G major, which Lortie might classify as a predecessor to the idea of world music: with a unified, integrated amalgamation of jazz, music from Spain and Russia, and Ravel's own Basque heritage.
In this conversation he also talks about Ravel's life-long child-like imagination, and I ask Lortie about his involvement in Albanian artist Anri Sala's "Ravel Ravel Interval."
Lortie plays this concerto with the Louisville Orchestra and guest conductor Ken-David Masur this weekend. The programs also include music from Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloé" and Toru Takemitsu's "Star-Isle."
Concert Talks are Friday morning (10 a.m.) with Ken-David Masur and Saturday evening (6:15 p.m.) with Masur and Louis Lortie.
