Debussy/Ravel Orchestral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy
Label: DG
Magazine Review Date: 7/1990
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 427 644-4GH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Boléro |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Giuseppe Sinopoli, Conductor Maurice Ravel, Composer Philharmonia Orchestra |
| Daphnis et Chloé Suites, Movement: Suite No. 2 |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Giuseppe Sinopoli, Conductor Maurice Ravel, Composer Philharmonia Orchestra |
| (La) Mer |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Giuseppe Sinopoli, Conductor Philharmonia Orchestra |
Composer or Director: Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy
Label: DG
Magazine Review Date: 7/1990
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 427 644-1GH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Boléro |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Giuseppe Sinopoli, Conductor Maurice Ravel, Composer Philharmonia Orchestra |
| Daphnis et Chloé Suites, Movement: Suite No. 2 |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Giuseppe Sinopoli, Conductor Maurice Ravel, Composer Philharmonia Orchestra |
| (La) Mer |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Giuseppe Sinopoli, Conductor Philharmonia Orchestra |
Composer or Director: Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy
Label: DG
Magazine Review Date: 7/1990
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 59
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 427 644-2GH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Boléro |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Giuseppe Sinopoli, Conductor Maurice Ravel, Composer Philharmonia Orchestra |
| Daphnis et Chloé Suites, Movement: Suite No. 2 |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Giuseppe Sinopoli, Conductor Maurice Ravel, Composer Philharmonia Orchestra |
| (La) Mer |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Giuseppe Sinopoli, Conductor Philharmonia Orchestra |
Author: John Steane
Karajan's mid-1960s DG recordings of these works still provide formidable competition for all newcomers and are coupled on a mid-price CD which also finds room for Debussy's Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune.
As if to confound comments on his preference for slow speeds, Sinopoli presides over a sprightly Bolero (two minutes faster than Karajan). Instrumental solos in the first half are inflected less than usual, even the trombone slides are avoided. An overprominent muted trumpet (after fig. 7) strays from the clockwork path, but a little human frailty in this piece is quite a welcome relief. The climax in this Watford Town Hall spectacular will have you spreadeagled on the back wall of your listening room, assuming it is still there.
Gravity is also defied in this unashamedly erotic Daphnis. The opening ''Daybreak'' has a sumptuously rich swell and sway. Rapturous strings (violins divided stage right and left), warm, sonorous brass and gurgling woodwinds deployed with a supple mastery of line and dynamic control that silences criticism. You will need a strong stomach for the ''Pantomime'' (and, probably, for this review); there is a kind of levitated sensuousness, with even a few groans of ecstasy from Sinopoli himself. You marvel at the beauty of the playing, and feel a sense of guilt for enjoying it all so much. Sinopoli's ''Danse generale'' is measured, as is Monteux's in his complete mid-price Decca recording ((CD) 425 956-2DM, 5/90). There's no denying the force of the climaxes but the revelry here seems a little marshalled and no modern contender has yet matched Karajan's uninhibited Berlin woodwinds.
It is the pictorial elements that impress in Sinopoli's La mer, and the outstanding control at generally slow tempos. It begins with one of the most magical pianissimos I have heard and the midday sunburst (if Debussy will forgive such an obvious visual analogy) at the end of this first movement has an astonishing power, warmth and radiance. The threatening upheavals from lower strings and timpani at the start of ''Dialogue du vent et de la mer'' are exciting but well above the dynamic markings. In this movement, both Karajan and Haitink (Philips) include the extra parts for brass that do not appear in the Durand edition of the score (four bars after fig. 59—Karajan with cornets, Haitink has horns) and I feel this passage sounds empty without them. As if to make up for their omission Sinopoli supplies instead a few vocal exhortations of his own. A few bars later, with the tuba weighing in impressively, the broad theme for brass has an almost Brucknerian massiveness. This may strike you as alien, but Debussy does ask for maximum sonority without hardness, and that is precisely how it comes across.
''Jeux de vagues'', though, does lack a lightness of touch. There is an over-emphatic glockenspiel near the start, a dancing solo violin obscured by the other strings at fig. 24, but most worrying is the slow tempo for the second half of the movement. This section is surely not about the play of the waves themselves, but the increasing exhilaration of their perception. Ignoring the composer's pleas for ever more animation, Sinopoli remains stuck in a rhythmic rut. Neither is the slow-moving cello and bassoon line underneath all this surface activity ideally clear. Both Karajan and Haitink demonstrate more effectively how exciting this passage can be.
But neither of them have the advantage of the outstanding range and richness of this new recording; Karajan's suffers from a degree of compression, Haitink's from a little hiss. Not that the new DG is entirely problem-free. There are two curiosities: near the start of La mer's last movement (track 7, 1'22'') a single volley of percussion sets off what I can only describe (wholly inadequately) as a ricochet of pulses of reverberation that unsettle the balance for the next few seconds. Also puzzling are the two tiny high pitched fizzes that disturb the still calm at the centre of this movement (5'18'').'
As if to confound comments on his preference for slow speeds, Sinopoli presides over a sprightly Bolero (two minutes faster than Karajan). Instrumental solos in the first half are inflected less than usual, even the trombone slides are avoided. An overprominent muted trumpet (after fig. 7) strays from the clockwork path, but a little human frailty in this piece is quite a welcome relief. The climax in this Watford Town Hall spectacular will have you spreadeagled on the back wall of your listening room, assuming it is still there.
Gravity is also defied in this unashamedly erotic Daphnis. The opening ''Daybreak'' has a sumptuously rich swell and sway. Rapturous strings (violins divided stage right and left), warm, sonorous brass and gurgling woodwinds deployed with a supple mastery of line and dynamic control that silences criticism. You will need a strong stomach for the ''Pantomime'' (and, probably, for this review); there is a kind of levitated sensuousness, with even a few groans of ecstasy from Sinopoli himself. You marvel at the beauty of the playing, and feel a sense of guilt for enjoying it all so much. Sinopoli's ''Danse generale'' is measured, as is Monteux's in his complete mid-price Decca recording ((CD) 425 956-2DM, 5/90). There's no denying the force of the climaxes but the revelry here seems a little marshalled and no modern contender has yet matched Karajan's uninhibited Berlin woodwinds.
It is the pictorial elements that impress in Sinopoli's La mer, and the outstanding control at generally slow tempos. It begins with one of the most magical pianissimos I have heard and the midday sunburst (if Debussy will forgive such an obvious visual analogy) at the end of this first movement has an astonishing power, warmth and radiance. The threatening upheavals from lower strings and timpani at the start of ''Dialogue du vent et de la mer'' are exciting but well above the dynamic markings. In this movement, both Karajan and Haitink (Philips) include the extra parts for brass that do not appear in the Durand edition of the score (four bars after fig. 59—Karajan with cornets, Haitink has horns) and I feel this passage sounds empty without them. As if to make up for their omission Sinopoli supplies instead a few vocal exhortations of his own. A few bars later, with the tuba weighing in impressively, the broad theme for brass has an almost Brucknerian massiveness. This may strike you as alien, but Debussy does ask for maximum sonority without hardness, and that is precisely how it comes across.
''Jeux de vagues'', though, does lack a lightness of touch. There is an over-emphatic glockenspiel near the start, a dancing solo violin obscured by the other strings at fig. 24, but most worrying is the slow tempo for the second half of the movement. This section is surely not about the play of the waves themselves, but the increasing exhilaration of their perception. Ignoring the composer's pleas for ever more animation, Sinopoli remains stuck in a rhythmic rut. Neither is the slow-moving cello and bassoon line underneath all this surface activity ideally clear. Both Karajan and Haitink demonstrate more effectively how exciting this passage can be.
But neither of them have the advantage of the outstanding range and richness of this new recording; Karajan's suffers from a degree of compression, Haitink's from a little hiss. Not that the new DG is entirely problem-free. There are two curiosities: near the start of La mer's last movement (track 7, 1'22'') a single volley of percussion sets off what I can only describe (wholly inadequately) as a ricochet of pulses of reverberation that unsettle the balance for the next few seconds. Also puzzling are the two tiny high pitched fizzes that disturb the still calm at the centre of this movement (5'18'').'
Debussy/Ravel Orchestral Works
Debussy/Ravel Orchestral Works
Debussy/Ravel Orchestral Works
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