Ravel Orchestral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Label: Erato
Magazine Review Date: 7/1993
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 58
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 4509-91712-2
Composer or Director: Maurice Ravel
Label: The Royal Edition
Magazine Review Date: 7/1993
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 69
Mastering:
ADD
Catalogue Number: SMK47603
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Boléro |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
French National Orchestra Leonard Bernstein, Conductor Maurice Ravel, Composer |
| (La) Valse |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
French National Orchestra Leonard Bernstein, Conductor Maurice Ravel, Composer |
| Alborada del gracioso |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
French National Orchestra Leonard Bernstein, Conductor Maurice Ravel, Composer |
| Daphnis et Chloé Suites, Movement: Suite No. 2 |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Leonard Bernstein, Conductor Maurice Ravel, Composer New York Philharmonic Orchestra Schola Cantorum |
| Rapsodie espagnole |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Leonard Bernstein, Conductor Maurice Ravel, Composer New York Philharmonic Orchestra |
Composer or Director: Maurice Ravel
Label: Galleria
Magazine Review Date: 7/1993
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 68
Mastering:
ADD
Catalogue Number: 437 648-2GGA
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (8) Valses nobles et sentimentales |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Boston Symphony Orchestra Maurice Ravel, Composer Seiji Ozawa, Conductor |
Composer or Director: Maurice Ravel
Label: The Royal Edition
Magazine Review Date: 7/1993
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 70
Mastering:
ADD
Catalogue Number: SMK47604
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Daphnis et Chloé |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Leonard Bernstein, Conductor Maurice Ravel, Composer New York Philharmonic Orchestra Schola Cantorum |
| Shéhérazade |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
French National Orchestra Leonard Bernstein, Conductor Marilyn Horne, Mezzo soprano Maurice Ravel, Composer |
Author: John Steane
Less than 12 months separated the Ballets Russes premieres in Paris of Daphnis and The Rite of Spring. If the expression in Nagano's recent Rite (Virgin, 6/92) would occasionally hark back a decade or two, his Daphnis is more than usual an urgently twentieth-century piece; but it isn't until the Pirates' ''Danse guerriere'' (one of savage force and precision, the tempo variations all confidently, nay, thrillingly observed) that the kinship strikes home. My initial reaction, in Part One, was that the ''Dance of the young girls around Daphnis'' seemed a little graceless at Nagano's swift tempo (to be fair, the marking is Vif, and Nagano is nowhere near as fast here as Boulez on Sony); and that Nagano's ''Dorcon'' (Daphnis's rival) was emphatically mechanical (compare Ansermet's humorous plod on his 1965 Decca version). The impression is enhanced by the recording: a familiar Abbey Road Studio No. 1 sound, i.e. clear, tight and reasonably spacious, with distinctly un-lush string tone, and a hint of hardness to brass and metal percussion at full stretch; quite different from the enveloping warmth, depth and sheen of the enchanted soundstage Decca provide for Dutoit. The Erato producer, as for Nagano's Rite, is Andrew Keener, and the dynamic range is every bit as wide here as in the recent Rattle on EMI; and, as there, you may find this production just a little austere (all that glitters and glistens is only heard as it would be in the concert-hall), though in the slow introduction to Part Two, the chorus and brass are very effectively distanced, as the score requests.
So, is Nagano's Daphnis a mainly hard-driven, chilly affair? Far from it. The ear is caught by myriad expressive subtleties, and the LSO's playing is little short of fabulous (aside from the cymbal a bar early in the ''Danse guerriere'' at 1'56''). Woodwind solos in particular are freely animated and rich in suggestion, and not just in the ''Pantomime''; Lyceion's coquettish clarinets, for example, and especially the (never more mysteriously shaded) cadenzas as the three nymphs come to life in the ''Nocturne''. String slides are discreet, unlike Abbado's with the same orchestra on DG, or Rattle—the only person actively to embrace or apply them and make them sound convincing. And Nagano's LSO chorus are superb; full and forward in the concluding ''Danse generale'', where there is pagan abandon from all participants allied to tight control of both ensemble and balance. A modern version then in every sense; often fresher in expression than Rattle, and equally challenging and perceptive. Dutoit now has two serious rivals.
Rattle's disc finds room for one of the finest Boleros of recent times (no mean achievement!). Both Ozawa's and Bernstein's mid-price reissues are generously extended, but neither of them is competitive. Ozawa's 1974 Daphnis offers deluxe sound and a powerhouse, lush reading of the score (who wants vibrato-laden strings in the ''Danse religieuse''?), with little sensitivity to the moments of tenderness, and the haunting half-lights. His Valses nobles are curiously anonymous.
At the start of Bernstein's 1961 New York Daphnis, an out-of-tune harp, and an ungainly swell in the horn solo do not bode well; and on the way to Part Three (the familiar Second Suite) the performance is often excitable and clumsy. Thereafter all is well (concluding with a ''Danse generale'' that waits for no man); and the eastern promise of the Sheherazade songs is richly fulfilled. For Bernstein's companion Ravel disc, Sony have transferred the Second Suite from this same 1961 complete Daphnis, to a programme of further New York and Paris sessions from 1973 and 1965 of very variable quality. Bernstein must have loved the fruity French woodwind timbres for the solos in this characteristically swaggering Bolero, though he must surely have winced at their ensemble tuning. The Alborada is flamboyant, explosive, vividly Petrushka-like; and Bernstein's eye roves around La valse's ballroom and exploits every passing phrase for maximum fun and parody. The leanings and loiterings in the central movements of the Rapsodie espagnole become tiresome, the NYPO sound dispirited, and the sound here is hard and dense; next to Reiner (RCA), this Rapsodie is texturally and expressively crude. Those looking for a complete Daphnis at mid-price, should stay with the 1959 Monteux (Decca) and the 1955 Munch (RCA).'
So, is Nagano's Daphnis a mainly hard-driven, chilly affair? Far from it. The ear is caught by myriad expressive subtleties, and the LSO's playing is little short of fabulous (aside from the cymbal a bar early in the ''Danse guerriere'' at 1'56''). Woodwind solos in particular are freely animated and rich in suggestion, and not just in the ''Pantomime''; Lyceion's coquettish clarinets, for example, and especially the (never more mysteriously shaded) cadenzas as the three nymphs come to life in the ''Nocturne''. String slides are discreet, unlike Abbado's with the same orchestra on DG, or Rattle—the only person actively to embrace or apply them and make them sound convincing. And Nagano's LSO chorus are superb; full and forward in the concluding ''Danse generale'', where there is pagan abandon from all participants allied to tight control of both ensemble and balance. A modern version then in every sense; often fresher in expression than Rattle, and equally challenging and perceptive. Dutoit now has two serious rivals.
Rattle's disc finds room for one of the finest Boleros of recent times (no mean achievement!). Both Ozawa's and Bernstein's mid-price reissues are generously extended, but neither of them is competitive. Ozawa's 1974 Daphnis offers deluxe sound and a powerhouse, lush reading of the score (who wants vibrato-laden strings in the ''Danse religieuse''?), with little sensitivity to the moments of tenderness, and the haunting half-lights. His Valses nobles are curiously anonymous.
At the start of Bernstein's 1961 New York Daphnis, an out-of-tune harp, and an ungainly swell in the horn solo do not bode well; and on the way to Part Three (the familiar Second Suite) the performance is often excitable and clumsy. Thereafter all is well (concluding with a ''Danse generale'' that waits for no man); and the eastern promise of the Sheherazade songs is richly fulfilled. For Bernstein's companion Ravel disc, Sony have transferred the Second Suite from this same 1961 complete Daphnis, to a programme of further New York and Paris sessions from 1973 and 1965 of very variable quality. Bernstein must have loved the fruity French woodwind timbres for the solos in this characteristically swaggering Bolero, though he must surely have winced at their ensemble tuning. The Alborada is flamboyant, explosive, vividly Petrushka-like; and Bernstein's eye roves around La valse's ballroom and exploits every passing phrase for maximum fun and parody. The leanings and loiterings in the central movements of the Rapsodie espagnole become tiresome, the NYPO sound dispirited, and the sound here is hard and dense; next to Reiner (RCA), this Rapsodie is texturally and expressively crude. Those looking for a complete Daphnis at mid-price, should stay with the 1959 Monteux (Decca) and the 1955 Munch (RCA).'
Ravel Daphnis & Chloe
Ravel Orchestral Works
Ravel Orchestral Works
Ravel Daphnis et Chloé. Shéhéherazade
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