This appears to be a 'Ravel's greatest hits' compilation taken from Thiollier's previous complete traversal of the Ravel solo piano works. Be warned that there are only excerpts from 'Valses nobles et sentimentales,' 'Le tombeau de Couperin,' and 'Miroirs.' That said, this is a good introduction to Ravel's piano music and might very well be a good buy for someone not previously familiar with this literature, and you certainly can't beat the price.

The pianist seems most at home in the more extrovert selections--e.g., the swaggering 'Alborada del gracioso' from 'Miroirs,' the frantic 'Scarbo' from 'Gaspard de la nuit.' In the rather more neoclassic pieces he tends to romanticize and use more rubato than is usual. One has the sense that he is not comfortable allowing them their cool serenity. An example of this is the 'Menuet sur le nom de Haydn' which, by the way, is mistakenly listed as being from 'Valse nobles.' 'Jeux d'eau' is a bit mannered. It's as if the river god of Régnier's epigraph is not so much laughing at being tickled by the water from the fountain as smiling at some private joke.

The piano sound is clean and true.