Seong-Jin Cho, Andris Nelsons & Boston Symphony Orchestra Ravel The Piano Concertos UHQCD

Numbered, Limited Edition UHQCD!
Playable on any CD player, the Ultimate High Quality CD greatly surpasses all previous CDs before it!
Seong-Jin Cho's sensitive interpretations of Ravel's piano works underscore his status as one of the most elegant and accomplished pianists of our time. Even as a child, the South Korean pianist loved the French composer and during his studies at the Paris Conservatoire he immersed himself intensively in his music. On the occasion of Ravel's 150th birthday in 2025, he has decided to record his complete solo piano works as well as the two piano concertos. "Ravel: The Piano Concertos" is now being released for the first time as a high-resolution UHQCD by Universal Music Japan and Deutsche Grammophon.
The album includes the Concerto for the Left Hand, a notoriously difficult work characterized by its dark sounds, as well as the more light-hearted Concerto in G major, which is an exquisite combination of jazz and the classicism of Mozart and Saint-Saëns. "For me," says Cho, "the highlight of the concert in G major is the second movement (Adagio Assai) – the long piano solo at the beginning. It is one of the most moving movements in the piano literature." At the two concerts, the pianist will be accompanied by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and its music director Andris Nelsons. Seong-Jin Cho, won the 17th International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015 as well as the prestigious Polonaise Prize. Since then, he has been in the international spotlight. With his overwhelming talent and innate musicality, he has established himself as one of the most outstanding talents of his generation and an artist who stands out from the crowd in today's music world.
UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. UHQCDs, unlike conventional CDs, are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. To protect the softer photopolymer from scratching, another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied. The combination results in a significantly reduced reflection of the laser light inside the CD and an unrivalled precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with normal CD players. Musically, the result is a sound that is strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.
While Universal Music Japan's first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now being released with increasing popularity. Typically, the master tapes of the Universal Archive are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not have a SACD player.

Features:

• Numbered, Limited Edition
• Made in Japan
• Superior Crystal Sound
• Ultimate High Quality CD
• XRCD-Like Luxury Digipak
• Playable on conventional CD players

Musicians:

• Seong-Jin Cho, piano
• Boston Symphony Orchestra
• Andris Nelsons, conductor

Selections:

Side A
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, M.82
1. I. Lento
2. II. Allegro
Piano Concerto in G Major, M.83
3. I. Allegramente
4. II. Adagio Assai
5. III. Presto