Your first pick: Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe

[rogch]

I did not think i would have to write this post. I own the acclaimed recording with Charles Dutoit and the Montreal SO and i have liked other recordings with this orchestra and conductor. But this one just does not work for me, i have listened to it a number of times. I think the sound is too massive, some of the details are lost. And at times i find it very pompous. I hope i don't offend anybody, but it actually makes me think of military parades in totalitarian states. This is something of a mystery, the suites are coupled with adorable performances of the Pavanne and La Valse It could be the work Daphnis et Chloe i did not like, but i have heard parts of it played by other orchestras and i have enjoyed that.

So which alternative recordings are there to chose from? Boulez, Monteux and Abbado are names i consider. But i am sure there are plenty of others too.

[piston]

I did not think i would have to write this post. I own the acclaimed recording with Charles Dutoit and the Montreal SO and i have liked other recordings with this orchestra and conductor. But this one just does not work for me, i have listened to it a number of times. I think the sound is too massive, some of the details are lost. And at times i find it very pompous. I hope i don't offend anybody, but it actually makes me think of military parades in totalitarian states. This is something of a mystery, the suites are coupled with adorable performances of the Pavanne and La Valse It could be the work Daphnis et Chloe i did not like, but i have heard parts of it played by other orchestras and i have enjoyed that.

So which alternative recordings are there to chose from? Boulez, Monteux and Abbado are names i consider. But i am sure there are plenty of others too.

Perhaps Dutoit interpreted the scenario more literally than other conductors. Part 2 of the ballet (which Ravel preferred to call a symphonie choréographique to indicate that the music was "no slave to the dancers," includes a war dance of the pirates followed by the menacing presence of the satyrs, "strange elements, lights, terror." In any case, in addition to the alternative recordings you have mentioned, I also recommend the older recording with Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the complete ballet music.

[Heck148]

So which alternative recordings are there to chose from? Boulez, Monteux and Abbado are names i consider. But i am sure there are plenty of others too.

I assume you are referring to the compete ballet, not just suite 1 or 2??

I like Bernstein and Monteux, and Abbado/LSO is good too.

[Corlyss_D]

So which alternative recordings are there to chose from? Boulez, Monteux and Abbado are names i consider. But i am sure there are plenty of others too.

I wouldn't bother with any of the aforenamed versions.

Martinon, Paray, or Monteux will give you a very warm and satifying peformance. And with the Monteux you get Ravel's Scheherazade, one of the most sublime and underrated works of French Impressionism. I have the version with Crespin from an ancient early 60s London recording. I loaned to my opera-nut friend in college; he said he couldn't listen to it because it was too sensual and erotic. That may be a first among college-aged males.

It could be the work Daphnis et Chloe i did not like

Could very well be. I love Ravel, but Daphnis & Chloe, while it has its moments, seems labored and tedious, as though he had a commission too large for what he had to say.

[anasazi]

Could very well be. I love Ravel, but Daphnis & Chloe, while it has its moments, seems labored and tedious, as though he had a commission too large for what he had to say.

I feel this way too. I love so much Ravel music and believe that it comes close to perfection at times, just not Daphnis. I have the same Dutoit CD mentioned earlier. But really do not listen often enough to have an opinion, or want another recording. But I have three or four versions of The Mother Goose Suite, and listen to all of them, constantly.

[RebLem]

Here's whatcha want--

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/alb ... _id=128544

[anasazi]

Here's whatcha want--

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/alb ... _id=128544

That's the one I used to own on vinyl. It may still be around somewhere. But it still didn't help me love the work. Although I usually love Monteaux.

[Corlyss_D]

But I have three or four versions of The Mother Goose Suite, and listen to all of them, constantly.

Me too. I adore that piece. Last year I couldn't get enough of it. Played it for months on end.

[rogch]

Monteux' recording is obviously very popular and that does not surprise me. I have his Beethoven recordings and they are sensational. He has the eye for details that i do not find in Dutoit's recording of Daphnis. And i guess it is no drawback that Monteux was French and old enough to have heard and played Ravel's music when it was new. So i will get this one. Still, i am curious about Boulez and the Berlin PO. Boulez of course knows this music well and the Berlin PO has a long tradition with the French impressionist repertoire.

[val]

For the complete ballet my favorite version is the one of Charles Munch with the Boston Orchestra. A little heavy sometimes, but very sensual and with a good dynamic.

[DavidRoss]

I have the Dutoit but prefer the Boulez--but then I love the clarity he brings to everything and find his penchant for detail really brings out the color in Ravel's orchestration and the virtuosity of the BP.

[Heck148]

Still, i am curious about Boulez and the Berlin PO. Boulez of course knows this music well and the Berlin PO has a long tradition with the French impressionist repertoire.

it does??
for Boulez recordings of Ravel, I'd probably opt for his NYPO or Cleveland versions...

[Corlyss_D]

Monteux' recording is obviously very popular and that does not surprise me. I have his Beethoven recordings and they are sensational. He has the eye for details that i do not find in Dutoit's recording of Daphnis. And i guess it is no drawback that Monteux was French and old enough to have heard and played Ravel's music when it was new. So i will get this one. Still, i am curious about Boulez and the Berlin PO. Boulez of course knows this music well and the Berlin PO has a long tradition with the French impressionist repertoire.

Not to spend your money as freely as I spend my own, but why don't you buy a couple and give us a head to head comparison?

[dirkronk]

Not sure my comments will be too enlightening, since it's been several years since my last spin-off of this piece and thus I can't articulate specifics. Nevertheless, the "survivors" were Munch/Boston on RCA just about neck and neck with Monteux on early Decca/London stereo, with Skrowaczewski on Vox Turnabout being rather a dark horse (I did like it though), and Martinon holding on mainly because it was part of an EMI box set of LPs (at the time, I didn't think it was up to the Munch/Monteux level, but on later listen I admit it held its own in the "sensuous" department rather well). I've got the Dutoit on CD, but no--his Daphnis isn't my fave.

FWIW,

Dirk

[anasazi]

But I have three or four versions of The Mother Goose Suite, and listen to all of them, constantly.

Me too. I adore that piece. Last year I couldn't get enough of it. Played it for months on end.

Do you have a recording of the original piano duet? That is just so fine.
Get the one by Lortie and Mercier on Chandos if you don't already.

My first exposure to Me Mere was watching one of those Bernstein Young People's concerts on TV. He used that piece to illustrate Ravel's beauty of orchestration.

[Corlyss_D]

But I have three or four versions of The Mother Goose Suite, and listen to all of them, constantly.

Me too. I adore that piece. Last year I couldn't get enough of it. Played it for months on end.

Do you have a recording of the original piano duet? That is just so fine.
Get the one by Lortie and Mercier on Chandos if you don't already.

Thanks. I'm sure I have it around here somewhere but not that edition. I'll get it.

My first exposure to Me Mere was watching one of those Bernstein Young People's concerts on TV. He used that piece to illustrate Ravel's beauty of orchestration.

Mine was on WGMS in Washington DC. My dad took me to the record store so I could buy my very own copy, the old London recording. It was one of the first LPs I ever bought. Funny how stuff like that sticks in one's mind.

[James]

the boulez is good, i like it.