A ministerial Department of Recording Schedules is not a pleasant thought, but it might—just might—manage to avoid such a situation as that in which the interested public buys Ravel songs in a two-record album only to find three or four months later that it will be necessary to buy them all again (some different artists, some the same, three records, not two) to have the items missing from the first issue. The additional songs, one should add, are very well worth having, and they are very well performed. Excellent as the Boulez album (CBS M39023, 9/84) was, the new one is still more desirable for its completeness. The 'free economy' presents a fascinating choice for the first-time buyer, but those who have already invested might pardonably feel a trifle peeved.
Like the CBS set, the HMV shares the music out among several singers, and, as AB said in his review of the first, the process pays off very well. A slight drawback may be that the selections are arranged in groups according to the artist rather than chronologically. To offset that, the thoughtful and expert essay by Jean-Michel Nectoux (splendidly illustrated) surveys Ravel's song output from start to finish, and I will follow that order now in commenting, all too briefly I fear, on the performances.
The earliest, the Ballade de la reine morte d'aimer (she was sister to the King of Thule) has Dalton Baldwin most finely evocative of bells and the misty ages, with Mady Mesple catching the mood to perfection and sustaining her soft high note most beautifully. Among the other early songs, Sainte is particularly lovely, closer than most to Ravel's master, Faure and sung by Van Dam with unflawed evenness of line. Jessye Norman has the Chanson du rouet, and it's true that she could sound a little more affectionate in the opening; the piano murmurs deliciously, with tireless charm. Felicity Lott brings a light touch to the Deux epigrammes, their element of pastiche never overemphasized in the accompaniments. With Sheherazade we come to 1903; Berganza in fine voice, never too lusciously sensuous for the French flavour, and the performance of ''Asie'' more clearly structured than usual. Bacquier, rather dry of voice, has a Frenchman's care for words, in the Histoires naturelles; he also sings idiomatically the strange, ironical Verlaine setting, Sur l'herbe. Mesple's girlish tone in the Greek songs; Van Dam's patriarchal authority, richly resonant in Mejerke; Lott's accurate placing in the difficult Mallarme group: all give great pleasure.
the Chansons madecasses have Norman imaginatively involved as she was in the earlier recording, and Van Dam never sacrifices purity of singing style in the Don Quichotte songs. Novelties include the setting of Ye banks and braes (Chanson ecossaise) ''reconstituted'' by Arbie Orenstein in 1975, and the attractive Greek song, Tripatos, unpublished till 1938 and now recorded for the first time. Alan Blyth placed the Boulez album among his ''Critics' Choice'' records for 1984; this album will be on my list for 1985.'