Here is a nicely packaged hit parade of Ravel's solo piano music, in vibrant, intensely affectionate renditions. The performances by Forte are so good, in fact, that I wonder why she has not had a bigger career. According the notes by Richard Todd, the French-born Forte was a student of Cortot and Kempff, and has enjoyed a career as both a performer and an academic, publishing under the name Madeleine Hsu, a curiosity that Todd leaves unexplained (her maiden name?). She currently lives in Connecticut with her husband, Allen Forte, who is also a music professor.

Forte plays in a classic French manner, with great emphasis on texture and color, subdued dynamics, and a treble-dominated tonal balance. This is more of a quicksilver approach than the weightier playing, in the Gaspard, of Nojima and Pogolerich. Forte is closer in style to the shimmering and delicate sound that is exemplified by Frederic Chiù in Miroirs. Who is correct? I'm not sure. The dark, exotic beauty plumbed by Nojima and Pogolerich is exciting and alluring, but the straightforward and intelligent playing of Forte may be truer to Ravel. Devotees of this delicious music should sample it all. For those seeking a nice trove of basic Ravel piano music to drop into a collection, this Forte project fits the bill quite nicely.

Peter Burwasser