Bruce Liu pf
DG 486 4400

Alkan Barcarolle, Op 65 No 6. Le festin d’Ésope, Op 39 No 12
Rameau Les Cyclopes. Gavotte et Doubles. Nouvelles suites de Pièces de clavecin – Menuet I; Menuet II. La Poule. Les Sauvages. Les tendres plaintes
Ravel Miroirs

Following his triumph in Warsaw’s 2021 International Chopin Competition, Bruce Liu makes his debut studio recording on DG with a recital devoted to French music, and his audacious programme is suitably titled ‘Waves.’ If, as it is often claimed, Ravel’s music would not be possible without reference to Rameau and the French Baroque, then Liu’s juxtaposition of the two composers is not far-fetched. But what of the switch to Alkan, a strange bedfellow whose overall eccentricity places him outside any notion of tradition? The jolt rather than natural transition from one thing to another is breathtaking, but never more so than when given by Liu with a stylistic assurance and aplomb rare from any pianist.

Beginning with Rameau, Liu quashes any argument concerning the piano versus the harpsichord in performances of an astonishing range. Sonority and texture are subtly varied and brilliance is always complemented by inwardness and confidentiality. ‘Les Cyclopes’, in particular, is a marvel of characterisation, and when have you heard ‘La Poule’ cluck and chatter with such abandon? Again, Liu’s playing of Ravel’s Miroirs is a gloriously welcome alternative to other drier, more literal traditions. His ‘Noctuelles’ flit and shimmer (the fullness of his pedalling allowing for an exceptional sense of colour), his ‘Oiseaux tristes’ hauntingly evokes Ravel’s own description of ‘ birds lost in the torpor of a sombre tropical forest’. In such prodigiously gifted hands ‘Une barque sur l’océan’ becomes a scintillating and storming marine-scape, while ‘Alborada del gracioso’ is all dazzle and aplomb. The chimes of ‘La vallée des cloches’ may have sounded more distant and mysterious from others but Liu’s more active and forward-moving approach creates its own distinctive and convincing ambience.

Then there is Alkan. The Barcarolle, Op 65 No 6, played with a haunting warmth and flexibility, is a far cry from the monstrous demands of ‘Le festin d’Ésope’, a grotesque extravaganza given with a blistering assault yet with an infinite sense of its variety. With a final and mischievous touch, Liu returns us to Rameau, from the outlandish to a vivacious, bejewelled precision. DG’s sound is as vivid as it is natural.