Editorial Product Review:Amazon.com:The Berlin Philharmonic never has had much opportunity to play Ravel, which is a pity because under Pierre Boulez they do it extremely well. Under their current music director, Claudio Abbado, the orchestra more often than not sounds positively comatose. How gratifying then, that with a dynamic conductor and music that's fun to play, they rouse themselves to sound like the world-class ensemble they really can be when they're not resting on their laurels.
Boléro is really smashing, with a knockout final cadence, and the solo players in all of these works cover themselves with glory. This is a great Ravel disc.
--David Hurwitz
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Disc 1:- Prélude.: Très Lent
- First Movement: Dance Of The Spinning Wheel And Scene-Allegro
- Second Movement: Pavane Of The Sleeping Beauty- Lent- Allegro
- Third Movement: Conversations Of Beauty And The Beast
- Fourth Movement: Tom Thumb- Très Modèrè
- Interlude
- Fifth Movement: Laideronnette, Empress Of The Pagodas-March-Allegro
- Apothéose: The Fairy Garden- Lent Et Grave
- Une barque sur l'océan
- Alborada del gracioso
- No. 1, 'Prelude a la nuit'
- No. 2, Malaguena
- No. 3, Habanera
- No. 4, Feria
Buyer Reviews
Average Buyer Rating:
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Marriages made in heaven?
Some marriages are made in heaven, others in hell. At first sight the combination of the lush, impressionist, romantic, sensual and sentimental music of Ravel and the brisk, dry, accurate, ultra-modern conducting of Pierre Boulez might seem to be the latter. However, all brief summaries fail to some extent and fortunately Ravel is not just the former. He is also a magician of the orchestra and a master orchestrator. Whereas Boulez has not for nothing become one of the foremost interpreters of early 20th century French music. Boulez' conducting style is almost unique in music. Whereas most great conductors are able to subtly adjust the tempo of the music to suit the volume and intensity, Boulez almost invariably follows an almost strict tempo (please note the qualifications - this is no metronomic conductor),instead he relies on a very dramatic micro-variation of volume, which produces a kind of pulsating sound, unlike almost every other interpreter. He also has an extraordinary ear for sonority and this, when put together with the finest orchestra in the world, the Berlin Philharmonic, produces a sound of matchless quality. All of the pieces on this record, have important solo passages and the quality of the BPO in this respect cannot be overestimated.
There are many fine pieces of music written for/about children. None finer than " Mother Goose". As a child I remember enjoying most "Tom Thumb" and "The Princess of the Pagodas" without knowing in the slightest who she was. Today it is "The Fairy Garden" I cannot listen to without emotion. This is surely the finest evocation of a child's view of heaven ever written. Mahler in the 4th Symphony isn't even close; maybe he wasn't really trying. If the previous movements had not been played with such meticulous attention to detail this final splurge of sound would not have been at all so effective. How to be modern and sentimental at the same time...
The two pieces that follow, Une Barque sur l'Ócean and Alborada del Gracioso, A Boat on the Ocean and Dawn Song of a Clown, are both orchestrations of piano pieces. Messiaen said that the former was unorchestratable. Unorchestratable? Ravel? Nonsense. It's a mesmerizing piece, almost themeless but with endless subtle repetitions. I went into a trance listening to it. Maybe it's because I love sailing, but that boat never left my mind's eye for a second. Arpeggios? The way he did it he didn't need them. Apparently Ravel later rewrote it again. You have got ot be a perfectionist to do that. Alborada del Gracioso is pure Cervantes. The Fool's grandiose illusions are both silly and magnificent at the same time. Here Boulez uses his gift for dynamic contrast to ultimate effect. "Rapsodie espagnole" to some might be kitsch, but if you've never dreamed as a youngster of far away, beautiful places and impossibly beautiful (wo)men, well, I feel sorry for you. Impeccable playing. The habanera must be one of the sexiest pieces for orchestra ever written.
The only piece I found at all disappointing was the Bolero itself. Ravel's tempo marking is "moderato assai" ie. pretty steady. The danger is, if you allow it to become "allegro" you lose all the pent up tension and sexual energy that is stored up in the piece. Boulez just never gets this right and the result is, I'm sorry to say, forgettable. This is an easy piece to play badly, whereas often quite mediocre performers and conductors do it brilliantly. What is there to learn from that?
I have heard enough on this record, however, to want to listen to more and if one day any enterprising record company does want to produce a Complete Orchestral Works of Maurice Ravel - his output is not vast and it surely deserves this - then I would like it to be this conductor and this orchestra. 5 stars.
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music for brain surgeons
I remember reading years ago of some brain surgeons--maybe they were cardiac surgeons, the important thing is that *they* knew--who customarily piped Maurice Ravel's Boléro into the operating room for the calming effect of its rhythmic regularity.
It's a good thing the nurse didn't put on 'Ma Mère l'Oye', 'Une Barque sur l'océan', 'Alborada del Gracioso', or 'Rapsodie espagnole' instead as she groped for the final track on this CD. One shudders to think of the patient's outcome.
All of which goes to show the extroardinary dexterity of Ravel with very different kinds of music. The late-Romantic surge and play of his ballets and other popular works contrasts with the flamboyand and oddly regular progress of his famous Bolero, seasoned with almost jazz-like touches from the brass (but a rhythmic, constant kind of jazz).
It's all here, courtesy of Pierre Boulez and the Berliner Philharmoniker, in one of those large, keeper recordings that are the signature style of the Berlin and of Deutsche Grammophon as well.
My brain--my heart too, come to think upon it--feels better just knowing this is out there and available to your local brain surgeon. May he and his guild remain calm. And skip any penchant for ballet.
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Complet Ma Mere L'oye
I discovered Ravel as a child; heard Ma Mere as an adolescent and it has been a source of enjoyment ever since. Now many years later I discover the complete Ma Mere and it is beyond verbal expression. The version is superb; Boulenz is sincere and passionate in the "dans le jardin" and I wept. I am sorry I have been without it all these years.
Trust me on this choice, you will not be disapointed.
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Ravel-ation!! ECSTACY
I'm no musicologist, but I know what I like: Debussy, Ravel,Vaughan Williams... the early 20th century romantics.. (along with jazz, post-punk, the Beatles and Frank Zappa) and this recording of Ravel's Ma Mere l'Oye is superb!!! I heard the Hong Kong Sinf perform it recently, and had to have a recording. Pierre Boulez and the Berliner Phil do not disappoint. This is as close as anyone is likely to get to audio-heaven: the last movement of this ballet. Wonderful!! Us ordinary mortals are truly blessed to have composers like Ravel channelling this music from the heavens!!!
