Thaddeus Kozuch - concert pianist, teacher, lecturer, scholar, composer ... a "Brilliant Piano Virtuoso"
Maurice Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as France's greatest living composer.
Thaddeus Kozuch would agree, as it has been said, that most of Ravel's piano music is extremely difficult to play, and presents pianists with a balance of technical and artistic challenges. Several of the works presented here are no exception. Mr. Kozuch was certainly up to these challenges. Included are studio and recital performances of some of Ravel's most difficult music.
Ravel - Alborada del gracioso (published 1906)
This performance was given at Thaddeus Kozuch's final DePaul University faculty recital in 1979.
Ravel
Alborada
Alborada ... ("Morning Song of the Jester") in D minor, is the fourth movement of Miroirs ("Mirrors"), a five-movement suite for solo piano. Valley of the Bells (bottom of this page below) is also from the same piano suite. Alborada is a technically challenging piece that incorporates Spanish musical themes into its complicated melodies.​
VIDEO: Ravel Habanera (1907)
In this 1986 home studio VIDEO Thaddeus Kozuch gives a subtle and sensitive interpretation.
Ravel
Habanera
Thaddeus Kozuch usually performed this calm Habanera following a bombastic recital showpiece, or as a tranquil encore. ​Kozuch often played the music of Spanish and Latin American composers.
This gentle music with its Cuban dance themes, however, was written by French composer Maurice Ravel.
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February 25, 2025: This video has improved audio fidelity from the previous version, and some scenes of Havana Cuba.
From the October 3, 1986 concert recital, this is also another sensitive AUDIO recording of the Ravel Habanera. This concert was Thaddeus Kozuch's last public performance, given in Grand Rapids Michigan at the St. Cecilia Music Center.
Ravel
Habanera (audio)
Kozuch made a "full circle" return to St. Cecilia with this concert, where he played one of his first formal public performances almost 50 years before his 1940 Chicago debut.
Ravel - La Valse (1920)
This is Thaddeus Kozuch's 1978 DePaul University Faculty recital performance of La Valse.
Ravel
La Valse
Ravel described La valse with the following preface: Through whirling clouds, waltzing couples may be faintly distinguished. The clouds gradually scatter. One sees an immense hall peopled with a whirling crowd. The scene is gradually illuminated. The light of the chandeliers bursts forth at the fortissimo. Set in an imperial court, about 1855.
These two 1979 performances were given in recital at Cullen Hall, University of St. Thomas in Houston, then a week later in Thaddeus Kozuch's final DePaul University faculty recital.
Several recordings of the same music are presented, showing differences in musical interpretation over the years ... or when it was just too difficult to pick only one.
Ravel
Prelude
Ravel's Prelude in A minor was composed in 1913 as a gentle student work.
For something completely different, Thaddeus Kozuch performed the Ravel Prelude (or the Ravel Habanera) in recitals following an enormous showpiece, or as a tranquil encore.
Ravel - Toccata (1914-1917)
from Le Tombeau de Couperin
AUDIO NOTE: Unfortunately, the only recording we have of the Ravel Toccata was made by a DePaul University music school student technician who did not know how to manage the volume control. As such, this exceptional 1969 Thaddeus Kozuch faculty recital performance was captured entirely with too much tape distortion. We have edited the audio quality as best we can.
Ravel
Toccata
Le Tombeau de Couperin ("a piece written as a memorial to Couperin") is a suite for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed between 1914 and 1917. The work based on those of a traditional Baroque suite. Toccata is the last of its six movements.
Ravel - Valley of the Bells (1905)
AUDIO NOTE: Unfortunately, the only recording we have of Ravel's Valley of the Bells was made by a DePaul University music school student technician who did not know how to manage the volume control. As such, this exceptional 1969 Thaddeus Kozuch faculty recital performance was captured entirely with too much tape distortion. We have edited the audio quality as best we can.
Ravel
Valley of the Bells
Valley of the Bells in C♯ minor, is the fifth movement of Miroirs ("Mirrors"), a five-movement suite for solo piano. Alborada (top of this page above) is also from the same piano suite. The work evokes the sounds of various bells through its use of sonorous harmonies.