This Pentatone Classics
recording contains three 1970s vintage
recordings of Ravel’s most popular orchestral
works. State-of-the-art multi-channel
technology was used and the recordings
have now been remastered for Super Audio
CD. I have not been able to ascertain
from the label if these recordings have
been released previously.
In the 1970s Philips
was pioneering analogue, multi-channel
music reproduction, employing quadraphonic
tapes (4-channel recordings) where stereo
recordings were the norm elsewhere.
I recall some quad LPs being released
but the concept soon died away owing
mainly to insufficient customer interest,
differing formats and the lack of suitable
playback systems. Now PentaTone Classics,
who were a management buyout by three
executives from Philips, have obtained
some of the Philips back-catalogue,
including the original quadraphonic
tapes that they have remastered. A process
called Direct Stream Digital has been
used for conversion to hybrid Super
Audio-CD (SACD) on the Remastered
Quadro Recordings (RQR) series.
We are told by PentaTone that the new
standard allows for 5 fully fledged
channels, plus a subwoofer channel,
however for this RQR series a decision
was made to release these early recordings
in their original 4-channel version.
The disc opens with
one of Ravel’s finest scores: the ballet
Daphnis et Chloé.
It was written to a commission from
the Russian impresario Diaghilev whose
brilliant Ballets russes company
was enjoying immense success during
their first Paris season. The impresario
was enthusiastic to secure new works
for the following season from leading
French composers. Ravel started work
on Daphnis in June 1909, using
an adaptation of the ancient Greek tale
by Longus, which had been prepared by
the choreographer Mikhail Fokine. Progress
was erratic and the work didn’t reach
the stage for another three years. Since
then many choreographers have been attracted
to the score; most notably Sir Frederick
Ashton with a 1951 adaptation for the
distinguished duo of Margot Fonteyn
and Michael Somes.
Ravel described Daphnis
et Chloé as a "Symphonie
Chorégraphique" though
Diaghilev complained that it was more
"Symphonique" than
"Chorégraphique."
At a playing time of around 55 to 60
minutes, the complete score is Ravel’s
longest work. Ravel scored it for a
large orchestra, including a wide variety
of percussion, with a wordless mixed
chorus, that can be heard both onstage
and offstage.
Although Daphnis
had been planned and written according
to a "rigorous, tonal plan"
as a "symphonic unity",
Ravel extracted two concert suites from
the complete score in 1911 and 1913.
These he adorned with a huge orchestra
employed in an extremely elegant fashion,
producing incredible tone-colours. Ravel
made the arrangements with only the
minimum of changes from the full score:
Orchestral Suite No.1: Nocturne;
Interlude; Danse guerrière.
Orchestral Suite No.2: Lever
du jour; Pantomime; Danse
générale.
In the first
Suite Haitink and his Amsterdam
players provide a steamy atmosphere
in the opening Nocturne and in
the Danse guerrière (The
warriors’ dance) one is struck by
the high level of drama and the terrifying
sound of the closing bars.
The more popular second
Suite opens with a rapturous and
opulent evocation of daybreak (Lever
du jour). This magical representation
is as beautiful and compelling as one
is likely to hear. Haitink provides
a highly attractive and convincing pastoral
character to the central Pantomime.
It is hard to decide who are in the
finest form; the Concertgebouw woodwind
or strings. The delightfully extended
flute solo is remarkably affecting and
deserves to be singled out for praise.
In the voluptuous and colourful ending
Danse générale (General
dance) Haitink creates an ecstatic
atmosphere. At 2:18 Haitink and his
Royal Concertgebouw crank up the tension
and excitement, expertly underlining
the wild and pagan character of the
swirling bacchanalian dance.
I thoroughly enjoyed
Haitink’s reading from the Concertgebouw,
however when selecting an account of
the ballet I have to look towards recordings
of the complete score. Top of my list
of recommended versions is the deliciously
dramatic performance from Pierre Monteux
with the London Symphony Orchestra and
Chorus of the Royal Opera House on Decca.
Monteux and his players prove to be
in superb form providing sumptuous playing
in music for which they clearly have
great affection. The sound quality is
vivid and well balanced; belying its
near fifty years. It has been reported
that informal listening tests do not
show any obvious difference in sound
quality between this Monteux re-issue
and its original CD release. Undoubtedly
this was a very special Kingsway Hall
recording session from the Spring of
1959 that caught Monteux’s crack London
orchestra in their most inspired form,
fully validating its selection as one
of their recently re-issued ‘Legendary
Recording’ series, on Decca
‘The Originals’ 475 7525. The couplings:
Rapsodie espagnole and Pavane
add to the desirability of this magnificent
disc.
Close behind Monteux
on Decca is the evergreen 1950s account
of the complete score from Charles Munch
and the Boston Symphony Orchestra on
RCA 09026 61846-2. Munch and his Bostonians
are in tremendous form offering an electrifying
performance that is vitally dramatic
and sharply coloured. The recording
is one of the legendary RCA Living Stereo
series. It has been remastered and re-issued
on a hybrid SACD 82876-61388-2.
There is plenty to
enjoy on the excellently performed and
recorded release of the complete ballet
from Laurent Petitgirard and his Orchestre
National Bordeaux Aquitaine and the
Bordeaux Opera Chorus on Naxos
8.570075. Recorded in 2002 at the
Franklin Hall in Bordeaux the engineers
have supplied warm, vivid and well balanced
sound quality. Laurent Petitgirard and
his Bordeaux Orchestra and Chorus may
be unfamiliar names to many but don’t
be put off. They make beautiful music
and prove more than a match for many
of the better known competition in this
score, such as: Chung on Deutsche Grammophon;
Dutoit on Decca; Nagano on Erato; Rattle
on EMI Classics; Tortelier on Chandos
and Ozawa on Deutsche Grammophon Entrée.
The superb Naxos release from Petitgirard
will sit comfortably on the shelf alongside
my treasured versions from Monteux on
Decca and Munch on RCA.
Ravel’s predilection
for the worlds of childish themes and
fairy-tales led to his writing Ma
mère l’oye (Mother
Goose) between 1908-1910. Conceived
as a five-part composition for piano
duet based on tales from Mother Goose
for the children of his friend Godebski.
The score was orchestrated by Ravel
in 1911 and expanded into a full ballet
in 1912.
Haitink communicates
a rather serious Danse du rouet that
emphasises a martial character with
the prominent use of brass. The Pavane
de la Belle au bois dormant (Sleeping
Beauty) represents the magical world
of the enchanted forest and castle.
It is performed with considerable excitement
and great panache by Haitink and his
Amsterdam players. Les entretiens
de la Belle et de la Bête (Conversation
of Beauty and the Beast) tells
of the meeting between the Beauty and
the Beast, who turns into a Prince.
Here Haitink conveys a child-like texture
to the scene that varies between the
tender and the mysterious.
I especially enjoyed
Haitink’s depiction of Petit Poucet
(Tom Thumb) tentatively walking
through the eerie whispering woods,
bursting with twittering birds and roaring
animals. Haitink and the Concertgebouw
make it easy to picture a fairytale
China in Laideronette, Impératrice
des Pagodes (Little Ugly Girl,
Empress of the Pagodas). In the
concluding section Haitink directs an
uplifting, often spine-tingling evocation
of the Le jardin féerique
(Fairy garden).
This reading from Haitink
and the Concertgebouw of Ma mère
l’oye (Mother Goose) is one
of the finest I have heard. However,
as a first choice I favour the highly
dramatic performance of the complete
ballet from Charles Dutoit and the Montreal
Symphony Orchestra. Recorded at St.
Eustache, Montreal in 1983 on the double
set on Decca 460 214-2 (c/w La Valse;
Pavane; Rapsodie Espagnole;
Daphnis et Chloé Suite No.2).
The closing score on
the release is Boléro
- Ravel’s most popular work, although
he was frequently disparaging about
it stating, "I have written
but one masterpiece: Bolero.
Unfortunately, it does not contain
any music." Commissioned by
Ida Rubinstein and originally conceived
as ballet music the Bolero was
composed and first premiered in Paris
in 1928.
Steeped in Spanish
influence Boléro is constructed
from a single, unwavering and prolonged
ostinato phrase in C major that
is allowed to grow to a triumphant orchestral
climax. Throughout, the snare drum maintains
the phrase in a steady almost hypnotic
rhythm and is joined at regular intervals
by orchestral instruments. Edo de Waart
and his Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
perform the Boléro with
complete confidence, conveying a swaggering
Spanish character. The crescendo
for full orchestra in the concluding
measures is given an impressive ferocity
from De Waart.
I have admired for
some time the marvellously controlled
version of Boléro from
Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony
Orchestra. Recorded in St. Eustache,
Montreal in 1981 on a Decca double 460
214-2 (c/w La Valse; Ma mère
l’oye (Mother Goose); Rapsodie
Espagnole; Daphnis et Chloé
Suite No.2).
I played this SACD
on my standard unit and found the pleasing
sound quality to be of a high standard.
The essay from Franz Steiger is interesting
but I would have preferred more detailed
information of the actual scores.
With excellent performances
and superb sound quality I would not
be too displeased to have this disc
as my only representation for these
Ravel scores.
Michael Cookson
for details
Royal
Concertgebouw Orchestra/Bernard Haitink
PENTATONE
CLASSICS SACD PTC 5186 167 [70:29]
