Judging by the Left-Hand Concerto, Alicia de Larrocha and Leonard Slatkin (and what a versatile conductor he is) make a good team in Ravel. Indeed, its dark brooding, obsessional marching and tender lyricism are captured in a performance which coheres and jells throughout. Unfortunately, the chemistry between the artists works less well in the G major Concerto: the first movement is at a lowish voltage, and its recording by the same team in the same location seems marginally less immediate than that of its D major companion. Furthermore, the celebrated E major melody of the Adagio assai, introduced in 33 bars from the soloist, is too plain and lacks magic. Even the brilliant finale does not quite take off.
With these two often-coupled works lasting around 40 minutes in all, there are problems with fill-ups: finding more music for piano and orchestra has meant going to other composers such as Debussy and Faure, while mere piano solos may seem a little tame. Larrocha's disc has Ravel's Sonatine and the Valses nobles et sentimentales, a work I prefer in his wonderfully imaginative piano original although we often hear the orchestral version. Alas, it doesn't succeed here, again because of tonal plainness and, as sometimes elsewhere on this disc, slowish tempos and over-lingering cadences. I think also that Larrocha's small hands don't allow her to play every note, as in the big chords at the end of the first page.
With several alternatives for the two concertos the coupling may decide you. I would opt for Pascal Roge and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit, but the fill-ups are short orchestral pieces. I hope, incidentally, that EMI will restore Jean-Philippe Collard's Gramophone Award-winning disc of the concertos before too long.'