In a year crowded with musical milestones, the 150th anniversary of Maurice Ravel’s birth has flown surprisingly under the radar. Leave it to French pianist Bertrand Chamayou to give the occasion the thoughtful spotlight it deserves. Ravel: Fragments isn’t just a companion piece to his acclaimed 2014 survey of Ravel’s solo piano works—it’s a vibrant extension, a love letter to the composer that goes well beyond the expected.

This time around, Chamayou dives into the corners of Ravel’s world he previously left untouched: piano reductions of orchestral works like Daphnis et Chloé and La Valse—done by Ravel himself—and his own transcriptions of vocal works, turning melodies once sung into eloquent piano soliloquies. But the real spark comes from the tributes nestled throughout the program: miniature homages from fellow composers spanning Ravel’s era and beyond.

Some are contemporaries—Joaquín Nin, Xavier Montsalvatge, Arthur Honegger—while others, like Betsy Jolas and Frédéric Durieux, bring a more modern edge. The standout among these is Salvatore Sciarrino’s De la Nuit, a spellbinding piece that melts together motifs from Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit into something spectral and otherworldly. These works don’t just quote Ravel—they commune with him. Chamayou’s playing is dazzling in all the right ways: nimble, luminous, and impossibly precise. His touch turns even the densest textures into something shimmering and translucent. Whether he’s navigating the lush intensity of Fragments Symphoniques de Daphnis et Chloé or teasing out delicate phrases in these miniature tributes, he makes every note feel freshly minted. Ravel: Fragments is more than a commemorative release—it’s an imaginative and heartfelt conversation across time. For Ravel aficionados, it’s a treasure trove. For everyone else, it’s a richly rewarding entry point into the composer’s nuanced, kaleidoscopic world.