Ravel: Miroirs; Boléro

On this CD:

1. Boléro, ballet for orchestra (or piano)
Composed by Maurice Ravel
Performed by Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Ondrej Lenard

2. Tzigane, rhapsodie de concert for violin & piano (or orchestra)
Composed by Maurice Ravel
Performed by Helena Spitkova

3. Piano Concerto in G major
Composed by Maurice Ravel
Performed by Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra

4. Miroirs, for piano (or orchestra) Noctuelles
Composed by Maurice Ravel
Performed by Marian Lapsansky

5. Miroirs, for piano (or orchestra) Oiseaux tristes
Composed by Maurice Ravel
Performed by Marian Lapsansky

6. Miroirs, for piano (or orchestra) Une barque sur l'océan
Composed by Maurice Ravel
Performed by Marian Lapsansky

7. Miroirs, for piano (or orchestra) Alborada del gracioso
Composed by Maurice Ravel
Performed by Marian Lapsansky

8. Miroirs, for piano (or orchestra) La vallée de cloches
Composed by Maurice Ravel
Performed by Marian Lapsansky

Tracks:

Bolero
Alborada del gracioso
Ma Mere I'Oye (Complete Ballet): Prelude
Ma Mere I'Oye (Complete Ballet): 1 Tableau: Andse du rouet et Scene
Ma Mere I'Oye (Complete Ballet): 2 Tableau: Pavane de la Belle du bois dormant
Ma Mere I'Oye (Complete Ballet): 3 Tableau: Les Entretiens de la Belle et de la Bete
Ma Mere I'Oye (Complete Ballet): 4 Tableau: Petit Poucet
Ma Mere I'Oye (Complete Ballet): 5 Tableau: Laideronette, Imperatrice des pagodes
Une Barque sur l'ocean
Rapsodie espagnole: Prelude a la nuit - Malaguena - Habanera - Feria

Tracks:

La Valse
Pavane pour une infante defunte
Le tombeau de Couperin: Prelude
Le tombeau de Couperin: Forlane
Le tombeau de Couperin: Menuet
Le tombeau de Couperin: Rigaudon
Valses nobles et sentimentales: Modere - Assez lent
Valses nobles et sentimentales: Modere - Assez anime
Valses nobles et sentimentales: Presque lent - Azzez vif
Valses nobles et sentimentales: Moins vif - Epilogue
Menuet antique
Fanfare pour 'L'Eventail de Jeanne
Daphnis et Chloe (Suite No. 2): Lever du jour
Daphnis et Chloe (Suite No. 2): Pantomime
Dapnis et Chloe (Suite No. 2): Danse generale

Customer Reviews:

Simply wonderful!.......2007-01-09

If you are a music buff like myself ( and I do like all kinds of music ), than what's not to like about The Boléro, by Ravel? And I don't buy into that hog-wash of a story that Ravel wrote this piece in the beginning of dementia...gimmie a break and give that man credit where credit is due.....The Boléro is a master piece! Ok...my review: It was a pleasure to shop for this Cd on Amazon ( after a disappointing search in a main music store )I found what I was looking for, ordered it and anxiously waited it's delivery, which was only about 5 days. The Cd was delivered in tip-top shape and I have enjoyed repeated plays of The Boléro! ( if it were an LP, the grooves would have been worn down by now! ) Today...it's back to classic rock for me. I would surely order from Amazon again!

quiet time reorganization of the mind.......2007-01-05

Have listened to this over the years from a teen who couldn't understand why anyone would write something so slow and repetitive, to a young married who now understood a vehicle for passion in a world filled with disraction, to a person who hears the joy and passion and struggles of a composer and appreciates the pain as a growth process for humans. Tenderly,hot,good stuff.More please.

Sumptuous.......2007-01-04

To heck with arguments about Elvis, Chuck Berry, Bill Haley, etc. Ravel's Bolero was the first ever piece of rock music, so there. This version by Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony totally nails it, always been my favorite version. The trick is to not let things get over the top as the intensity heightens. Flawless readings of the Rapsodie Espagnole and La Valse to boot makes this an essential disc. This is all the evidence you need that Charles Dutoit is the greatest living Ravel interpreter.

You never have enough Ravel - just never........2006-01-15

This two disk set is one of those that you should add to your collection because it is wonderful music, sounds great, and is extremely affordable. Everyone knows and loves "Boléro". Commissioned by Ida Rubinstein as a ballet and premiered in 1928 was not a musical success. At another performance, led by Toscanini, Ravel complained that the tempo was too fast. Toscanini replied that it was the only way to save the work. But it soon became a mass success to Ravel's surprise and consternation. He felt they loved it for all the wrong reasons. The violinist Hélène Jourdan-Morhange relates this interesting story of one incident involving the work:

"Ravel was extremely surprised at the mass success of "Boléro" `They're going to turn it into another "Madelon", he said, rather crossly; and deep down he felt that the obsessive, musico-sexual element in the piece was probably behind its enormous popularity. But one old lady was proof against the contagion. Ravel's brother Edouard saw her, at the first performance, wedged tightly in her seat shouting above the applause `Rubbish! Rubbish!' Maurice, when informed by his brother, replied mysteriously: `That Old Lady got the message!'" from Ravel et nous 1945 page 166.

The other works on this disk are more substantive than the 15-minute crescendo and its constantly changing orchestral colors. The entire "Mother Goose" ballet - who doesn't love this? Although you usually here it performed as the suite. The "Rhapsodie Espagnol" is a favorite and delivers that wonderful Spanish flavor with a French sauce.

"Le tombeau de Couperin" and "Valses nobles et sentimentale" are orchestrations of major piano works (with some alterations in the tombeau) (there are other pieces on these disks that also began as piano works) that are probably more well known to the general public as orchestral works. However, they are very essential works in the pianist's repertoire, and I encourage you to get to know them in that form as well.

"La Valse" is really two things. There is a tribute to Johann Strauss. Ravel admitted that every composer wanted to write a very good waltz, but that it was very difficult. So, he wrote this symphonic waltz as a tribute. However, the second half is something else, is it not? There is decadence and a madness to it that seems like a nightmare to me. As if we are all trapped in this thing until everything falls apart with pain and loss into nothing. A fascinating piece.

There are other small and popular pieces on this disk that are all done well.

Recommended!

The Best of Ravel By Master Conductor And Orchestra.......2005-11-10

French-Canadian conductor Charles Dutoit and the Motneral Symphony Orchestra deliver what is the most musically satisfying collection of Ravel Bolero's French music. At a fine price, this is a fine jewel, with moments that sparkle and burn with a beautiful fire. The first track is of course the famous Bolero, with its hypnotic, singular theme that is expanded into a climatic crescendo which is overtly sexual, primal and sensuous. It was originally a ballet about a Spanish dancer (dancing the bolero of course) in a bawdy cafe. She is spurred on to dance even more erotically by the lusty men until we can assume the men can take no more. The Rhapsody Espagnole is an evocative portrait of Spain, with lyrical passages and tonal beauty. The Valse is another classic of French music of the early 20th century. Ravel's mother had died prior to the premiere. It is a slow, romantic waltz that escalates into a frenzied dance of death. In musical terms, there is nothing too different from La Valse and Bolero. They are both basically one motif that is repeated but changes in volume and pacing. The Pavane For A Dead Princess is my favorite work of his. It is possibly the most gorgeous funeral music one will ever hear. Far from being a melancholy piece, it is a stately, Renaissance-like work that pays homage to exoticism of the East and Romanticism of the West. The Dead Princess we assume is either Moorish or Spanish and the music is lilting and spiritual without ever reaching the heights of frustration or despair that Bolero or Valse take on. The Tomb of Couperin is also a funereal piece but its beauty lies in its imitation of Baroque music. Couperin was a Baroque composer of keyboard works. The music is aptly called neo-baroque or neoclassical since it was composed in the 20th century. This same style is embedded in Valses Nobles Et Sentimentales and Minuet Antique- all works that reflect the music of the Baroque and classical eras, an homage to Handel and Gluck. Daphne Et Cloe is perhaps his most ambitious work, as it expands on the Baroque classic and makes it more operatic and orchestrally grander. All fans of Ravel will want to own this recording. Dutoit knows this music down to a T and the orchestra captures nuance and subtlety in a variety of both light and dark textures. The music is brimming with life and the sound is crisp and beautifully remastered.

Average customer rating:

Instruments of the Orchestra - Great Reference Material!
Beginner or Expert
Very Informative and Enjoyable
Frank's view
Excellent Intro for Those Not Familiar with the Orchestra

Instruments of the Orchestra
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00006O0NT
Release Date: 2002-12-03

Tracks:

Overture To 'Tannhauser'
Domna, Pos Vos Ay Chausida
We Don't Merely Use Instruments, We Play On Them. And They Play On Us.
Hungarian Dance No.7
The Violin Is One Of The Most Tender And Beautiful Instruments Ever Invented.
Violin Concerto In D Major (Adagio)
But For A Long Time It Was Seen As The Instrument Of The Devil.
The Soldier's Tale: Triumphal March Of The Devil
The Manipulative Seductiveness Of The Gypsy Violin.
Csardas Music
The Violin And The Initiation Of Nature
The Four Seasons (Spring, Mvt 1)
Birds Are Again Evoked In The Second Concerto, Especially Music's Natural Favourite.
The Four Seasons (Summer, Mvt 1)
Like The Devil, The Violin Is A Master Of Disguise.
Old Viennese Dance No.3 'Schon Rosmarin'
The Menacing Sensuality Of Ravel's Tzigane: A Very Different Side Of The Violin:
Tzigane
Do We Now Have The True Measure Of This Instrument? Not Just Yet.
Caprice No.24
The Many Effects Of The String Tremolando: Brandenburg Concerto No.4 (Last Mvt)/From Joy To Fright/Quartettsatz In C Minor/The String Tremolo Practically Spells The World Agitato.
Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge (No.7)
Prokofiev's Tremolo In Romeo And Juliet Should Not Be Heard Just Before Bedtime.
Romeo And Juliet: Act IV
Vivaldi Use It To Illustrate The Shivering Of Travellers Crossing The Ice.
The Four Seasons (Winter, Mvt 1)
The Violin Muted
Clair De Lune
The Gentleness Of Muted Strings Persists Even When A Whole Orchestra Plays.
Piano Concerto No.21 In C Major, K.467 (Slow Mvt)
The Pizzicato Violin
Pizzicato Polka
In Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto, The Accompaniment Is Pizzicato.
Violin Concerto No.2 In G Minor (Slow Mvt)
Varieties Of Pizzicato: Colas Breugnon (The People's Feast)/Now A Drier, Leaner, Hungrier Pizzicato. There's Not A Lot Of Comfort Here./Capriol Suite (Tordion)/The Use Of Pizzicato As 'Percussion'/Romeo And Juliet (Act I)/Mahler Used Pizzicato...
The Planets (Mars - The Bringer Of War)
The Technique Of Double-Stopping Enables The Violin To Play Duets With Itself./Sonata No.3 In C Major For Unaccompanied Violin (Fugue)/Now A Later Example Of The Same Technique
Hungarian Dance No.4
Double-Stopping Is A Standard Feature Of A Lot Of Folk Music.
The Four Seasons (Autumn, Mvt 1)
Now The Same Technique, But The Sound Might Have Come From Another World.
Bolero
Double-Stopping Can Only Approximate The Sound Of A Real Violin Duet.
Cadenza To The Violin Concerto By Brahms
Now Compare That With A Real Violin Duet.
Forty-Four Duos (No. 1: Teasing Song)
Another Duo By Bartok, Demonstrating The Violin's Rich Lower Register
Forty-Four Duos (No.2: Maypole Dance)
And Now What May Be The Most Beautiful Accompanied Violin Duet In History
Concerto In D Minor For Two Violins (Largo)
The Soul Of The Violin Is In Song; But What About This Weird Passage?
Violin Concerto No.1 In D Major (Mvt 2)
The Use Of Harmonies In The Orchestra Can Be Both Magical And Unsettling.
Symphony No.1 'Titan' (Mvt 1, Opening)
Tchaikovsky's Use Of Harmonics In The Sleeping Beauty Is Both Strange And Darling.
The Sleeping Beauty (Act II, No.15: Entr'Acte)
Ravel's Harmonics In Mother Goose Effect A Magical Transformation.
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Beauty And The Beast)
Stravinsky's Harmonics In The Firebird Transport Us Almost Into Another World./The Firebird (Introduction)
The Natural Upper Notes Of The Violins Have A Unique Emotional 'Grab'.
Also Sprach Zarathustra (Of The Afterworldsmen)
Still In Their Upper Register, The Violins Unleash The Energy Of A Young Colt.
Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge (No. 4)
Elsewhere, Britten Uses The Same High Register To Create A Very Different Mood.
Four Sea Interludes (Dawn) From 'Peter Grimes'
To End This Outing With The Violins, A Charming Little Elfin Dance
Elfenreigen

Tracks:

Introduction To The Viola
Viola Concerto (Mvt 1)
Khatchaturian Gets A Very Different Sound From It: Fuller, Fruitier, More Exotic.
Gayane Suite No.1 (Armen's Solo)
Very Nearly The Whole Of The Violin's Upper Register Is Also Available To The Viola.
Passacaglia, Op.33b From 'Peter Grimes'
The Viola Can Bring A Special, Rich Twanginess To Pizzicato That The Violins Lack./Don Quixote/Berlioz Drew Sounds From It That Retain Their Metallic Strangeness Even Today.
Harold In Italy (Mvt 4)
The Muted Viola: Intimate, Gentle, Poignant In Dvork
Cypresses (No.9)
The Massed Violas Of The Modern Symphony Orchestra In Mahler
Symphony No.4 (Mvt 3)
The 'Period' Viola In Bach
Brandenburg Concerto No.6 (Last Mvt)
The Cello: A Voice Of Unique Nobility
Suite No.1 For Unaccompanied Cello (Prelude)
Brahms And The 'Soul' Of The Cello
Piano Concerto No.2 In B Flat Major (Mvt 3)
Most Orchestral Composers Tend To Emphasize The Cello's Lower Register.
Cantata 'Herz Und Mund Und Tat Und Leben', BWV 147 (Soprana Aria: Bereite Dir, Jesu)
In The Time Of Beethoven The Cello Remained As Fundamental As Ever.
Symphony No.3 'Eroica' (Finale)
But The Cello Is Not Condemned To Spend Its Life In The Basement.
Elfentanz, Op.39
Not Only In Recital Showpieces Like That Is The Cello Is Used In Its Highest Register.
The Protecting Veil (Opening)
A Cello With An Identity-Crisis: The Pizzicato Flamencan
Flamenco
Double-Stopping In The Lower Reaches Of The Cello's Range
Solo Suiet For Cello And Piano (Sardana)
It's In The Middle Register That The Cello Really Comes Into Its Own.
Oriental Dance, Op.2 No.2
It Was To The Cellos That Beethoven Gave Two Of His Most Famous Themes./Symphony No.5 (Mvt 2)/Still More Famous Than That Theme Is This One From The Ninth Symphony.
Symphony No.9 (Finale)
Introduction To The Double-Bass
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Elephant)
But The Double-Bass Can Be Intensely Expressive And Graceful.
Elegy No.1 In D Major
The Range Of The Double-Bass Is The Greatest Of All The String Instruments/Allegro Di Concerto, 'Alla Mendelssohn'/And It's Also Capable Of Very Considerable Virtuosity.
Capriccio Di Bravura
Double-Bass Solos In Orchestral Scores Are Rare But Often Memorable./Symphony No.1 'Titan' (Mvt 3)/In His Third Symphony Mahler Makes A Very Different Use Of The Instrument./Symphony No.3 (Mvt 1)
The Double-Bass Muted In Prokofiev/Lieutenant Kije Suite (Kije's Wedding)/In Another Work Prokofiev Uses The Double-Bass To Enhance The Winds./Romeo And Juliet (Act III)/And He Combines The Bass Clarinet With A Shivering Tremolo From The Double-Basses....
Symphony No.5 (Mvt 3)/So Much For The Strings/On Now To The Winds

Tracks:

The Antiquity And Magic Of The Flute
Prelude A L'Apres-Midi D'Un Faune
The Versatility And Agility Of The Flute
Orchestral Suite No.2 In B Minor (Badinerie)
The Flute In Fifteenth-Century Spain
Sa'Dawi
Other Flutes: The Bass And Alto
Chamber Music No.II
The Piccolo - Aptly Named
La Naissance D'Osiris (Mvt 6)
From A Piccolo Of The Eighteenth Century To One Of Its Descendants In The Twentieth
Suite No.1 For Small Orchestra (Valse)
A Variety Of Techniques
Chamber Music No.II
Flutter-Tonguing. But Tchaikovsky Got There Eighty Years Before.
The Nutcracker (Act II, No.2: Scene)
From The Transverse To The Vertical: The Baroque Recorder
Recorded Suite In A Minor (Menuet II)
An Unfamiliar, Early Vision Of The Instrument
Naelden, Naelden
The Bachian Oboe
Cantata 'Ein Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott', BWV 80 (No.7: Duetto)
Introduction To The Cor Anglais Or 'English Born'
Symphony No.9 'From The New World' (Mvt 2)
The Loneliness Of The Cor Anglais
The Swan Of Tuonela
The Cor Anglais Joins The French Horn In Haydn.
Symphony No.22 'The Philosopher' (Opening)
Introduction To The Oboe D'Amore, Beloved Of Bach - But Also Of Ravel
Bolero
The Clarinet Family: Boxing The Compass, From The Depths Of The Bass Clarinet.../The Egyptian (Violence)/...To The Raucous And Squealy.../Taras Bulba (The Death Of Ostap)/...To The Shrill And Complaining...
Petrushka (No.8: Peasant With Bear)/...To The High Sprits Of A Playful Puppy./Symphonie Fantastique (Last Mvt)/And To The Downright Jazzy/Romeo And Juliet (Act II)
As The High Clarinets Tend To Be Loud, So The Bass Tends To Be Soft:
Gayane Suite No. 1 (Mvt 5)
The Bass Clarinet Is Used By Most Composers Mainly As A Colouring Agent.../Petrushka (No.4: The Blackamoor)/...But It Does Occasionally Get A Whole Tune To Itself./Iberia (Almeria).
The Range Of The Normal Clarinet Parts Goes Quite High...
The Snow Maiden (Scene 5: Melodrama)
...And Quite Low.
Peter And The Wolf (The Cat)
The Clarinet As Concerto Soloist
Clarinet Concerto In A Major (Rondo)
But That's Not The Instrument Mozart Wrote It For; This Is:
Clarinet Concerto In A Major (Rondo)
Introduction To The Saxophone
Hary Janos Suite (Mvt 4)
The Soprano Saxophone Has Quite A Different Feel To It.
L'Arlesienne Suite No.1 (Minuet)
The Little Sopranino Sax Goes Even Higher.
Bolero
The Most Famous Use Of The Saxophone Is In An Orchestration By Ravel.
Pictures At An Exhibition (The Old Castle)
The Saxophone Can Be Quite Contagiously Good-Humoured.
Sax-O-Phun
The Puffa-Puffa Image Of The Bassoon
Peter And The Wolf (Grandfather)
The Bachian Bassoon, In Accompanimental Mode
Cantata 'Weichet Nur, Betrubte Schatten' ('Wedding Cantata'), BWV 202 (Aria No.1)
Bizet Leaves The Puffa-Puffa Image Out, Allowing The Bassoon To Sing./Carmen Suite No.1 (Les Dragons D'Alcala)
And Ravel, Also In Spanish Mode, Does Likewise.
Bolero
The Bassoon As A Voice Of High Seriousness, Indeed Desolate Loneliness
Symphony No.3 (Opening)
The Eerie Bassoon In Its Highest Register
The Rite Of Spring (Opening)
Stravinsky Now Draws On Its Lowest Register, Lonely And Melancholy.
The Firebird Suite (1919, Berceuse)
The Bassoon As Concerto Soloist, Avoiding All Exaggeration
Bassoon Concerto In G Minor (Finale)
The Deep-Voiced Contra-Bassoon, As A Fairy-Tale Beast
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Beauty And The Beast)
The French Horn Under Its Woodwind Hat
Wind Quintet, Op.43 (Last Mvt)
Now A More Prominent Role, In A Woodwind Quintet From An Earlier Era
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Op.100 No.5 (Mvt 2)
The Horn In Harmonious Blend With Strings In Another Quintet
Horn Quintet, K.407 (Finale)

Tracks:

The Trumpet As Virtuoso Soloist
Brandenburg Concerto No.2 (Last Mvt)
The Special Brillance Of Paired Trumpets
Concerto In C For Two Trumpets, RV537 (Mvt 1)
The Ceremonial Trumpet
Fanfare For The Common Man
Trumpets And Drums - An Incomparable Alliance
Messiah (The Trumpet Shall Sound)
The Versatility Of The Trumpet, From The Most Public To The Most Lonely
Piano Concerto In F (Slow Mvt)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of The City/An American In Paris/The Trumpet As Recruitment Officer/The Soldier's Tale (The March)/The Trumpet As Swaggerer
Carmen Suite No.2 (Habanera)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of Strength And Courage
Carmet Suite No.2 (Toreador's Song)
The Trumpet Muted/Petrushka (No.4: The Blackamoor)/Lieutenant Kije Suite (Opening)/The Trumpet As The Voice Of Weariness
Billy The Kid
The Trumpet As Character Actor
Pictures At An Exhibition (No.6)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of God
Mass In B Minor ('Et Exspecto')
The Birth Of The Trombone
Aenmerckt Nu Hier
The Birth Of The Brass As A Family
Canzon 12 In Double Echo
The Trombone In The Eighteenth Century
Trombone Concerto In B Flat Major (Finale)
The Tone Of The Tenor Trombone/Romance For Trombone And Organ/The Memorable Voice Of The Bass Trombone/Requiem (Mvt 2)/But The Bass Trombone Is More Than An Instrumental Bullfrog.
Hosannah
The Trombones Become Part Of The Orchestra.
Symphony No.5 (Finale)
The Wagnerian Trombone:/Overture To 'Tannhauser'
The Trombone As Caricaturist
Pulcinella (No.19: Vivo)
The Trombone As Raspberry/Concerto For Orchestra (Intermezzo)
The Horn And The Hunt
Horn Concerto No.4 In E Flat, K.495 (Finale)
The Challenging Horn Of The Baroque
Abaris Ou Les Boreades (Menuet)
The Scarcity Of First-Rate Players In Handel's Time
Walter Music (Minuet 1)
The Horn As Magician/The Firebird Suite (1919, Finale)
Horns And The Sound Of Nobility
Overture To 'Tannhauser' (Opening)
The Special Sound Of The Horn In Its Higher Register
Mass In B Minor ('Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus')
The Trumpet-Like Sound Of Massed Horns
Symphony No.3 (Mvt 1, Opening)
The Tuba - Unfairly Maligned?
Symphony No.6 (Mvt 3)
The Tuba Perfectly Cast By Ravel
Pictures At An Exhibition (Bydlo)

Tracks:

Introduction. And We Begin With A Bang.
Fanfare For The Common Man/The Bass Drum On The Battlefields/Wellington's Victory, Op.91 (Opening)
At The Opposite Extreme Is The Triangle.
Piano Concerto No.1 In E Flat (Scherzo)
Categories Of Percussion: Tuned And Untuned. The Side Drum
Overture To 'La Gazza Ladra' - The Thieving Magpie (Opening)
The Side Drum In An Effective But Unexpected Role/Clarinet Concerto (Mvt 1)
The Tambourine. One Of The Oldest Instruments In The World
Den Hoboecken Dans
Even Older Is The Originally Oriental Gong.
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Laideronette)
No Single Instrument Can Match The Gong In Evoking The Breaking Of Waves./Passacaglia, Op.33b From 'Peter Grimes'/But Gongs Don't Have To Be Struck To Be Effective.
Gymnopedie No.2
The Cymbals Are Generally Discovered Early In Life./The Sanguine Fan/And They Do More Than Clash Together Loudly. They Can Be Clashed Together Softly./Studio Example: But They Needn't Be Clashed Together At All/Studio Example: They Can Be Lightly...
Other Untuned Percussion Instruments Include The Whip.: Piano Concerto In G Major (Opening)/And Here Are No Fewer Than Twenty, Cracked By Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Act I, Scene 5)
More Versatile Than The Whip Are The Wood Blocks.../Studio Example/...Which Crop Up All Over The Place In Twentieth-Century American Music.
Rodeo (Hoe-Down)
Related To The Wood Blocks, By Sound, Are The Castanets./Jota Aragonesa/But The Castanets Were Also Used By Monteverdi Back In The Seventeenth Century.
Scherzi Musicali (Damigella Tutta Belle)
A Still Earlier Example From Fifteenth-Century Spain
Yo M'Enamori D'Un Aire
The Birth Of The Bongo
Symphonic Dances From 'West Side Story'
From The Streets Of New York To The Blacksmith's Shop/Il Trovatore ('Anvil Chorus')
Desert-Island Decibels: Grand Canyon Suite (On The Trail)/Arcana
From One Vegetable To Another: The Humble Squash, Or Marrow/Huapango
Onwards To The Tuned Percussion. First, The Timpani
Also Sprach Zarathustra (Introduction)
But The Drum Roll Can Be More Effectively Frightening Than The Big Bang.: Symphony No.2 'Resurrection' (Mvt 3)
Not One Drum Roll, But Many/Grand Canyon Suite (Sunrise)/Symphonie Fantastique (Last Mvt)
Taking Advantage Of Tunability
Music For Strings, Percussion And Celeste (Mvt 2)
The Russian Composer Rodion Shchedrin Takes A Downward Turn./Carmen Suite (Changing Of The Guard)/Tuned, Yes; But For The Truly Melodic We Must Look Elsewhere.
Introducing The Glockenspiel/Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)
Saint-Saens And The Xylophone
The Carnival Of The Animals (Fossils)
Ravel And The Xylophone
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Laideronette)
Introducing The Marimba/Carmen Suite (First Intermezzo)
Introducing The Vibraphone
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (Narange Dolce)
The Vibraphone Goes Russian.../Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)/...And Is Joined By The Marimba./Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)
Introducing The Hungarian Cimbalom
Folk Dances
The Cimbalom And The Symphony Orchestra
Hary Janos Suite (Mvt 3)
Introducing The Tubular Bells
Hary Janos Suite (Viennese Musical Clock)
A More 'Up-Front' Approach From Rodion Shchedrin
Carmen Suite (Introduction)
But The Bells Can Also Make The Sinister Even More Sinister./Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Mvt 1)
Introducing The Celeste
The Nutcracker (Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy)
Magic, In The Use Of Collective Percussion
Miroirs (La Vallee Des Cloches)
Plucked Instruments: The 'Undercover Percussion'/Carmen Suite (Scene)
A Prime Case In Point Is The Harp, Irresistible To The Romantics./The Nutcracker (Act II, No.1: Scene)/The Non-Solo Harp As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra/Hungarian Rhapsody No.1
The Traditionally Subservient Role Of The Harpsichord In The Baroque Orchestra
Brandenburg Concerto No.2 (Slow Mvt)
The Piano: King Of The Tuned Percussion/Symphony No.3 'Organ' (Mvt 3)/And A Quarter Of A Century After That:
Petrushka (Russian Dance)
The Anti-Romantic Piano As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra
Music For Strings, Percussion And Celeste (Last Mvt)

Tracks:

Keyboard Instruments In The Orchestra - The Most Powerful Of Them All:
Symphony No.3 'Organ' (Finale)
But Things In Handel's Day Were Very Different.
Organ Concerto In B Flat, Op.4 No.3 (Last Mvt)
The Organ Is Difficult To Classify.
An Unexpected, Organ-related Guest
Concerto Pour Zampogna (Last Mvt)
Peasant-Fancying... And A Touch Of The Roaming Cowboy
Les Miserables (Drink With Me)
Outside Artefacts And The Power Of Association
Mahler's Sleighbells
Symphony No.4 (Opening)
A Roll-Call Of Some Unusual Guests/The Typewriter/Parade
Chains, And More/Integrales/An American In Paris/Sandpaper Ballet
Purpose-Built Oddities: Wind Machines/Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Opening)
Don Quixote (Variation VIII)
National Calling Cards: The Guitar For Spain/Concierto De Aranjuez (Finale)
And The Guitar's Poor American Relative, The Banjo/Washington Breakdown
And Poorer Still, The Mouth Organ/The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (Packing Up)
The Balalaika For Russia/Romeo And Juliet (Act II: No.14)
The Maracas For Mexico/The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (El Desayuno)
The Bongos And Congas And A Whole Wealth Of Other Drums For Africa And Central America/Studio Example
The Sitar Of India/Evening Raga: Bhapoli
The Accordion For France (Especially Paris)/Paris Canaille
The Zither For Vienna/The Third Man (Theme)
The Cimbalom For Hungary/Folk Dances
The Guitar As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra/Rondena
There Are Whole Orchestras Of Balalaikas./Sveit Mesiats
The Effect Of The Wordless Human Voice, Used Purely As An Instrument/Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Mvt 1)
Nocturnes
Instruments And the Imitation Of Nature. The Clarinet As Cuckoo
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Cuckoo)
The Flute As An All-purpose Aviary
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Aviary)
The Oboe As Duck
Peter And The Wolf (The Duck)
The Recording Of Reality. Does It Work As Well?
The Pines Of Rome (The Pines Of The Janiculum)
The Recording Of Reality Electronically Reborn In New Guises
Cantus Articus - Concerto For Birds And Orchesra (Mvt 2)
Beethoven Turns Avian: Cuckoo, Nightingale, And Quail
Symphony No.6 'Pastoral' (Andante Molto Mosso)
Some Improbable Casting: The Violin As Braying Donkey
The Carnival Of The Animals (Persons With Long Ears)
A Truly Orchestral Hee-haw To Be Reckoned With
Overture To 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
A Thunderstorm In A Million
Symphony No.6 'Pastoral (Allegro-Allegretto)
the Instrumental Depiction Of A Silent World
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Aquarium)
Saint-Saens' Menagerie Takes A Curtain Call.
The Carnival Of The Animals (Finale)

Tracks:

The Grouping Of Instrumental Families. An Additive Approach. First, Two Violins
Forty-Four Duos (No.4)
A Great Contrast, Of Both Pitch And Character: Violin And Viola
Duo For Violin And Viola In B Flat Major, K.424 (Finale, Vars 1 & 2)/Studio Example
Arrival Of The Standard String Trio: Violin, Viola, And Cello
String Trio In B Flat (Menuetto)
The String Quartet: Two Violins, Viola, And Cello
String Quartet In F, Op.18 No.1 (Mvt 3)
The String Quintet - When The Extra Instrument Is A Second Viola
String Quartet No.5 In D, K.593 (Adagio)
The String Quintet - When The Extra Instrument Is A Second Cello
String Quintet In C (Mvt 3)
The String Sextet: Two Violins, Two Violas, And Two Cellos
String Sextet In B Flat (Mvt 2)
The String Octet: The Standard String Quaret Times Two
Octet In E Flat, Op.20 (Mvt 1)
Double The String Octet: A Fully Fledged String Orchestra
String Symphony No.2 (Finale)
The Massed Strings Of A Symphony Orchestra
Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis
Contrasts Of Pitch And Instrumental 'Colour' In The Woodwind Section
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Op.100 No.5 (Theme)
In The First Variation It's The Horn That Gets The Lion's Share.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 1
In Variation Two The Torch Is Handed To The Bassoon.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 2
In Variation Three The Oboe Leads.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 3
Variation Four: Conversation Before Returning To A Solo-dominated Texture
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 4
And Variation Five is Dominated By The Clarinet.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 5
The Next To Be Featured Is The Virtuoso Flute.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 6
Individual Farewells And A Closing Chorus
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 7
A Mixed Group: Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, String Quartet, And Double-Bass
Octet In F (Mvt 3)
The Early Classical Symphony Orchestra Of Haydn And Mozart
Symphony No.29 In A, K.201 (Finale)
Strings, Wind, But No Brass. What Haydn And Mozart Never Knew
Canzon 28
Beethoven's Fifth: Two Horns, Two Trumpets, And Three Trombones Join The Team.
Symphony No.5 (Finale)
From Beethoven To The Massive Orchestras Of Berlioz, Wagner, And Mahler
Beethoven Changed The Face Of The Symphony And The Orchestra Forever
Symphoy No.6 'Tragic' (Mvt 1)
The Cult Of Orchestral Elephantiasis Reaches Its Peak.
Symphony No.1 'Gothic' (VI: Te Ergo Quaesumus)
When Large Doesn't Necessarily Mean Loud: Debussy
Images (Gigues)
A Crisis Of Confidence; The Orchestra's Survival Hangs In The Balance, But It Still Develops. The Ondes Martenot:
Turangalila Symphony (Chant D'amour 1)
The Advent Of The 'Early Music' Movement Brings A New Vitality And Freshness.
Balle De Xerxes (Gavotte En Rondeau)
Computer And Synthesiser: Friends Or Foes?
Concerto In D Minor For Two Violins (Largo)
A Speculative Look Ahead/Mass In B Minor ('Dona Nobis Pacem')

Customer Reviews:

Instruments of the Orchestra - Great Reference Material!.......2007-04-04

This set lends itself to greatly enhancing one's knowledge of the orchestra, instruments in it, and their usage. I am a huge music buff, and I still picked up a great deal I previously did not know. I highly recommend this for all who wish to understand the origin of music, as well as the processes that are employed to create music!

Beginner or Expert.......2007-03-12

This CD is excellent for the beginner or expert! To be able to haear the instrumets separately and then together really provides a good education. and/or refresher. The book thaty comes with the CD is alomost worth the price by itself!

Very Informative and Enjoyable.......2006-11-20

Whether you're a music novice or pro, "The instruments of the Orchestra" is a very worthwhile purchase. The 7 CDs, with a total of 8 hours, are expertly narrated by Jeremy Siepmann. He's a great speaker, very much like the late Leonard Bernstein was. Mr. Siepmann takes you on an unforgetable musical journey covering the origins and use of the various orchestral instruments throughout musical history. The balance between his narration and a wealth of musical examples, which range from snippets to entire movements, is superb. The comprehensive enclosed booklet is excellent and faithfully follows the 7 CDs in content. Even with my 40+ years of music training I still learned new things from this wonderful collection. Considering the excellence of the content, and a cost that translates to about $5 per disc, this collection is a great value. Grab it, you won't regret that you did. Five solid stars!

Frank's view.......2006-08-19

This boxed set of CD's with booklet achieved all I had hoped that it would. There are good samples of individual instruments and well done commentary on each. The only drawback was that some of the samples were too brief and could have been longer, hoiwever I guess this fits in with time constraints of the medium. It has given me a lot of clues as to future purchases of CD's for listening to individual instruments. Altogeth a satisfactory purchase and a welcome addition to my collection.

Excellent Intro for Those Not Familiar with the Orchestra.......2003-11-08

I've listened to classical music for years and am interested in composition. I bought this CD set to learn how an orchestra and its instruments work. I thought the CDs would be a nice but boring lecture. They aren't! Not only are they FUN but they are informative as well. I learned a huge amount from each CD and couldn't wait to listen to the next one.

The narrator and writer is a great speaker and holds your attention well. He is definitely knowledgeable. He provides musical examples for each point he makes, so you get to "hear" what he just talked about. I'd say the CDs are about 65% music and 35% narration. You'll learn about the range of instruments, some history, different ways to play them, how they sound, and how they are used in the orchestra. This CD set was a great learning experience and is sold at such a low price!

I recommend this CD for those who want to learn about classical music and those who know about it but are interested in learning more about the inner workings of an orchestra. You'll learn much useful information. For instance, the Rite of Spring (with that eerie start) is written for bassoon! I never knew a bassoon could sound like that but now I do.

Tracks:

Bolero
Pavane For A Dead Princess
Alborada Del Gracioso
Rapsodie espagnole: Feria
Le tombeau de Couperin: Rigaudon
La Valse
Piece In The Form Of A Habanera
Mother Goose Suite: The Fairy Garden
Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No. 2: Daybreak
Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No. 2: Pantomime
Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No. 2: General Dance

Ravel: Boléro / Ma Mère L'Oye (complete ballet) / Rapsodie espagnole / Une Barque sur l'océan / Alborada del Gracioso - Berliner Philharmoniker / Pierre Boulez

Average customer rating:

Ravel-ation!! ECSTACY
Boulez Has the Perfect Ear for Ravel
Popular Ravel Works
Ravel In Berlin With Boulez
The best Bolero

Ravel: Boléro / Ma Mère L'Oye (complete ballet) / Rapsodie espagnole / Une Barque sur l'océan / Alborada del Gracioso - Berliner Philharmoniker / Pierre Boulez

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

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Maurice Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé / La Valse - Berliner Philharmoniker / Pierre Boulez
Ravel: The Piano Concertos; Valses nobles et sentimentales
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Debussy: La Mer - Jeux - Rhapsodie pour clarinette et orchestre
Bartok: The Piano Concertos

ASIN: B000001GLO
Release Date: 1994-06-14

Tracks:

Ballett: Prelude: Tres lent
Tableau: 1er Tableau: Dance Of The Spinning Wheel And Scene
Tableau: 2e Tableau: Pavane Of The Sleeping Beauty
Tableau: 3e Tableau: Conversations Of Beauty And The Beast
Tableau: 4e Tableau: Tom Thumb
Interlude
Tableau: 5e Tableau: Laideronnette, Empress Of The Pagodas
Apotheose: 6e Tableau: The Fairy Garden
Une Barque sur l'ocean: Tres soule de rythme
Alborada del gracioso: Assez vif
Rapsodie espagnole: Prelude a la nuit: Tres modere
Rapsodie espagnole: Malaguena: Assez vif
Rapsodie espagnole: Habanera: Assez lent et d'un rythme las
Rapasodie espagnole: Feria: Assez anime
Bolero: Tempo di Bolero moderato assai

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

Customer Reviews:

Ravel-ation!! ECSTACY.......2007-06-24

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!!!

Boulez Has the Perfect Ear for Ravel.......2006-05-23

These are fine, tight performances of Ravel. Boulez's unequalled talent for detailing orchestra pitch is on fulsome display here. Of particular interest is the mesmerizing performance of the Mother Goose ballet - all the various orchestra climaxes are scintillating. Of the other pieces, while neither the Alborado or Rhapsodie quite equals the sinuous sexuality Reiner and Munch brought out in the music, Boulez, who has been leading top-drawer concerts of Ravel from his earliest days as a conductor, is certainly unrivaled today in this repetoire.

Popular Ravel Works.......2006-01-30

The French composer, Maurice Ravel, is often described as an impressionist. I find his music more vivid than the haze of impressionism usually elicits, and the music on this CD is some of his most vivid and descriptive, not to mention in terms of popularity. Bolero, Rhapsodie Espagnole, Alborada del Gracioso, Une Barque sur l'ocean, and the complete Mother Goose Ballet are all among those vivid compositions.

The Mother Goose ballet has five scenes from various fairy tales: Dance of the Spinning Wheel, Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty, Conversations of the Beauty and the Beast, Tom Thumb, Empress of the Pagodes, as well as a prelude, interlude, and a finale entitled Fairy Garden; all totaling 28 minutes. Each tableaux provides a vivid musical portrait of the fairy tale: the Dance of the Spinning Wheel has a constantly moving string undercurrent, while the Pavane for Sleeping Beauty has beautifully woven melodies in the winds, a lovely calm awaiting Prince Charming. Conversations of the Beauty and the Beast is a charming waltz where, perhaps, the girl is falling in love, while Tom Thumb has direct portrayals of bird trills and calls. The festive Empress of the Pagodes has an Asian pentatonic melody in a spirited dance, but it all culminates in the Fairy Garden, with a lush hymn set in 20th century fullness, bringing the work to close. Wonderfully colorful with lyric melodies for the woodwinds, charming dances, and special effects on the strings (glissandos, slides, harmonics, col legno, etc.) give the work a fantastical feel. Also on the disk is Une Barque sur l'ocean, an ultra Romantic depiction of the sea. Great swellings of waves occur in the music, first peacefully, with gently oscillating winds and strings, but eventually more aggressive. Very descriptive in nature, Ravel's colorful orchestral writing is an optimistic view of the sea, with occasional woodwind melodies insinuating melancholy, or loneliness at sea.

The other three works on the disk are all based in Spanish folk-rhythms and sequences. The seven minute Alborada del Gracioso is a dancing orchestral showpiece with a two-against-three feel, which erupts into a glorious exclamation before immediately calming down. Whirlwinds of harp, flutes, and clarinets, along with quickly repeated trumpet notes, castanets, and a lonely bassoon solo, make the work a tour de force. The 16-minute Rhapsodie Espagnole is in four movements (Prelude to the Night, Malaguena, Habanera, and Festival), and on the whole, a rather understated work of impressionism. The opening prelude has an unceasing, unresolved feeling, as well as a rhythmic displacement that lasts throughout. The Malaguena is a quiet, but snappy dance in 3, while the Habanera is a sluggish dance with a jerky feeling. The Festival finale is the most outgoing, and besides the Bolero, has the most extensive writing for brass on the CD. The famous Bolero, with its sassy melody and natural crescendo (by adding instruments to increase volume), is an orchestral standard. Made famous by its unrelentless rhythmic ostinato and catchy melody, the work includes unique orchestrations, including solos in extreme ranges and use of saxophones (tenor and soprano). The work brings the disk to a rousing close.

Pierre Boulez is a pre-eminent Claude Debussy interpreter, and his experience there is utilized successfully in this Ravel CD. Boulez follows the score intently, sometimes to a fault; he follows the extreme dynamic ranges and Ravel's articulation markings (sometimes making the listener have to adjust the volume in order to hear). Although the Berlin Philharmonic is an unusual choice for a French composer, with often needed delicate handling, they fare quite well, often setting a transparent quality, but thoroughly enjoying the raucous dance settings. Featuring some of Ravel's most vivid and descriptive music, and certainly famous works, this CD should satiate the average listener as a great introduction to Ravel, but the winning performance and 4-dimension DG digital sound should win over the rest. Good choice for these popular works. TT: 75.33

Ravel In Berlin With Boulez.......2005-11-20

Maurice Ravel remains one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, alongside his fellow Frenchman Claude Debussy. This 1993 recording of five of Ravel's works shows why, helmed as these works are by one of the great conductors of all times, Pierre Boulez, in a stunningly fine recording with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

The recording gives us Ravel's complete ballet "Ma Mere L'Oye" (Mother Goose), with its exquisite and lush orchestration; the brilliant "Une Barque Sur L'Ocean" (A Boat On The Ocean); and the familiar rhythms of "Alborada Del Gracioso" and "Rapsodie Espagnole", reflecting the Spanish influence that permeated much of Ravel's music (as well as his having grown up along the border between France and Spain). The recording climaxes with that great experiment of 20th century music making, the celebrated "Bolero", a work that, thanks to its rhythmic simplicity and its basis in Spanish/Arabian music, has never fallen out of style (and which had its popularity boosted further on the big screen in 1979 by its use in director Blake Edwards' comedy-drama "10").

Boulez, no slouch as a composer either, is often thought of as a rather cold and emotionless conductor who, like Leopold Stokowski before him, directs without a baton (Boulez once joked that holding a baton "made his hands freeze"). Such a perception is not entirely accurate, however, just to judge from the way he is able to handle these Ravel works, particularly the mega-popular "Bolero", with the Berliners. The orchestra had recorded that work on two separate occasions, in 1964 and 1977 respectively, under Karajan, but both times the piece felt slower than it was supposed to be. Under Boulez's direction, however, "Bolero" moves very freely, and with an undercurrent of occasional menace. The performances of "Mother Goose", "Alborada Del Gracioso", "A Boat On The Ocean", and "Rapsodie Espagnole" are also handled with considerable panache by Boulez and the Berliners.

This is a hugely recommended recording, for the sheer pleasure of Boulez interpreting a fellow Frenchman's great works with one of the world's premiere orchestras.

The best Bolero.......2004-08-30

I've heard quite a lot of recorded Bolero performances. Some are exciting without techincal perfection. Some have great orchestral ensemble without first-rate solo performances. This Bolero by Berliners and Boulez has everything.

Solo performances (flute, clarinet, saxophones, trombone, and all) are all simply marvelous, with _both_ perfect technique and taste. The orchestral ensemble is perfect. After all, it's the Berlin Philharmonic. Nevertheless (I say "nevertheless") the perfomance is passonate and exciting. Other passonate recordings out there go beyond the orchestra's capacity and go wild with disastrous ensamble. The capacity of the Berlin Philharmonic is so high that they can be (and are) passionate without sacrificing techincal perfection.

Who said Boulez was cold? He seems to set priority on perfection over emotion. But, when he _does_ already have perfection, he no longer has any reason to restrain his emotion. Only then was this great achievement of modern orchestra possible.

Average customer rating:

Bolero
Exercise in orchestration.

Ravel: Boléro

Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B000003CUZ
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Alborado Del Gracioso
I. Prelude A La Nuit
II. Malaguena
III. Habanera
IV. Feria
I. Modere
II. Assez Lent
III. Modere
IV. Assez Anime
V. Presque Lent
VI. Assez Vif
VII. Moins Vif
VIII. Epilogue
La Valse
Bolero

Amazon.com

Jesus Lopez-Cobos proves himself a perceptive and idiomatic interpreter of some of Ravel's most popular works. A conductor with a fine ear and a style that lends itself more to elegance than brute force, he encourages his players to explore every nook and cranny of these colorful scores, without any sacrifice of energy or excitement. He's helped in no small degree by Telarc's excellent recording, which allows the music to build to a natural climax that conveys maximum impact without any sense of strain. There are many excellent Ravel discs out there, and this certainly deserves to be considered one of them. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Bolero.......2007-03-20

Main reason I bought this disc was Bolero, which is an excellent 15-minute long piece. The rest of the peices, while not what would normally attract me to buying a disc of themselves, were quite enjoyable. Reccommended for anyone who likes classical/orchestral music

Exercise in orchestration........2002-01-31

What else can you say when a spirited performance of astoundingly inspired music is brilliantly recorded with depth and clarity as on this recording? Not only are these pieces excellent examples of Ravel's orchestral mastery; the sonics Telarc uses to tranmit them through your speakers will have you rapt with respect. The instrumental colors captured here run from excitingly vivid pizzicato stings to reflectively subdued woodwinds. The Bolero is excellent; it covers every decibel level. But, some of Ravel's slyest orchestral tricks will delight you in the Rapsodie and La Valse. This disc is well worth adding to your collection.

Ravel: Boléro; Alborada del Gacioso; La Valse; Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2

Average customer rating:

Not the best rendition of Bolero or La Valse
Well done
It's Not Nearly So Bad
Not for easy listening.

Ravel: Boléro; Alborada del Gacioso; La Valse; Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

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Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Classical Instrumental Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
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Bernstein Century: Bernstein on Jazz - What is Jazz?
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ASIN: B000009CYF
Release Date: 1998-07-14

Tracks:

Bolero: Tempo di Boler moderato assai
Alborada del gracioso: Assez vif- Plus lent- Au mouvement
La Valse: Mouvement de Valse viennoise - Un peu plus modere Premier mouvement-Assez anime
Daphnis Et Chloe, SuiteNo. 2: Lever du jour
Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No. 2: Pantomime
Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No. 2: Danse generale
Rapsodie espagnole: I. Prelude a la nuit
Rapsodie espagnole: II. Malaguena
Rapsodie espagnole: III.Habanera
Rapsodie espagnole: IV. Feria

Amazon.com

What a potent combo: Maurice Ravel and Leonard Bernstein. Boléro slowly comes to a steady boil without any ingredients overflowing. By contrast, in Alborada del Gracioso and La Valse, Bernstein thoroughly revels in his French orchestra's watery brass and silvery string tuttis. Back in Manhattan, the Daphnis and Chloé suite and Rapsodie Espagnol are lusty without ever sounding vulgar. Some might find the miking a hair spotlit for their tastes, but Ravel's breathtaking orchestration can withstand such scrutiny. So can Bernstein and company. An ingratiating release. --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews:

Not the best rendition of Bolero or La Valse.......2004-06-09

I bought this thinking that this recording was a re-issue of Bernstein's famous studio performance of Bolero/La Valse (recorded, I think in 1958 or 59). THAT studio recording (Columbia) surpasses any other orchestration of those two masterworks by anyone, ever.
Needless to say the orchestra for this particular Bernstein rendition was awful in performing both Bolero and La Valse. Some sections of the orchestra are over miked while some other sections are under miked, making Bolero's famous final crescendo
shrill and choppy.
Bernstein said it himself: Bolero is the most abused classical work--perhaps because of the intricate instrumentaion of the work. I'm not a muscian, so I don't know. Anyway, Both Bolero and La Valse--two masterpieces of music not equalled by any other composer-- deserve better treatment than given here by the techinically limited, over/under miked performances given by the French symphony orchestra in this recording.
Get the Columbia/Bernstein version of Bolero-La Valse . It is the standard , model interpretation of those works.

Well done.......2004-02-11

I grew up with Charles Dutoit but came to appreciate Leonard Bernstein from listening to the local radio station on my morning commute. Bolero, by Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937), is one of those pieces that are almost impossible to play badly so there are very many good versions on the market. I found this to be very easy to follow.

Ravel takes a single Spanish sounding line and repeats it with some variation and variation of interments. In this way he has capture the feel of Spanish music better than most originals. Timing is everything and we are carried along with the music. We start out slow and quiet, repetition using exotic instruments as the obo has us mesmerized, eventually build to frenzy and them a release.

This piece was also used as the background music in the movie "10" for its alternative use.

The balance of this CD is other Ravel/Bernstein recordings that you may come to appreciate as much if not more than Bolero.

It's Not Nearly So Bad.......2003-02-03

This Bernstein Century CD of Ravel's most famous works for orchestra is really not as bad as the previous reviwer indicated in his two reviews. When it comes to Ravel, I would select Munch, Paray or Cluytens before Bernstein, but with that being said this is an excellent disc. I find Bernstein's accounts better than many of his then contemporaries, and that includes readily available performances by Reiner, Szell and Ormandy. The sound, like all of Bernstein's vintage stereo recordings with the New York Philharmonic for CBS/Columbia/Sony, is full and rich. Fans looking for the complete Daphnis Et Chloe will want to pass on this (get the Munch on RCA Living Stereo), but otherwise you should have no reservations in purchasing this title.

Not for easy listening........2002-12-12

If you don't have any interest in this recording academically, don't buy it. The resolution is very thin, and at times becomes over-saturated. At times in Dafnis, I have to strain my ear to hear what I'm KNOW is suppose to be there. This ablum, like many in this series (save Mahler 4, 7), is very disappointing, and I would have returned this album if I wasn't interested in Berstein's muscial approach.

Tracks:

Daphnis et Chloe: Deuxieme Suite: Lever du Jour - Pantomime - Danse generale
Rapsodie espagnole: I. Prelude
Rapsodie espagnole: II. Malaguena
Rapsodie espagnole: III. Habanera
Rapsodie espagnole: IV. Feria
Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte
Alborada Del Gracioso
Bolero

Customer Reviews:

Authoratative Ravel.......2000-08-29

This disc is a collection of Some of Ravel's best and most famous works for orcestra: Suite no. 2 of Daphnis et Chloe, Rhapsodie Espagnole, Pavane, Alborada del Gracioso, and, of course, Bolero.

Daphnis et Chloe started out as a full ballet with an orchestra and choir. The ballet itself was never very popular, but the last part of the music (with or without the voices), also known as Suite no. 2, has had continuing success. It starts out with the most amazing musical representation of dawn I have ever heard, moves into a long flute solo (beautifully played here by Donald Peck), then into a boisterous dance in 5/4 meter. The subtleties of the music here are excellently captured by Barenboim; it is clear simply in this first track that he is a conductor very sensitive to the music.

Next comes Rhapsodie Espagnole, or Spanish Rhapsody. The prelude, with its constant overlay of E D# C# C is followed by the wonderfully spanish sounding Malagueña. Then comes a pensive Habanera, then the dance-like Feria. The whole Rhapsody is performed with precision.

My favorite tracks on the disc follow. First is the exquisite Pavane pour une Infante Defunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess). Pavane, as most of Ravel's orchestral pieces, started out as a piece for piano. He wrote it while he was somewhat young, and it became a worldwide favorite, which it should have. Toward the end of his career freed it to the orchestra. The orchestral version is twice as exquisite as the original, and here is presented with such delicacy and pathos that it is not to be missed.

Next is a piece that began life in a piano suite entitled "Miroirs", Alborada del Gracioso, which in Spanish roughly means "The Comedian's morning song". This piece, like the Malagueña of the Rhapsody, sounds so delightfully Spanish with its triplets and rhythms that it makes you want get up and move. Barenboim's interpretation stays on tempo and the entirity of the fast sections simply dance in themselves and not a note is missed, even in the impossible repeated triplets (which are especially hard for pianists playing the original, such as myself). The slow section is wonderfully melancholic and the ending makes one fully aware as to why the piece has the title it does.

Tracks:

Bolero
Rapsodie espagnole: I. Prelude a la nuit
Rapsodie espagnole: II. Malaguena
Rapsodie espagnole: III. Habanera
Rapsodie espagnole: IV. Feria
Alborada del gracioso
Le tombeau de Couperin: I. Prelude
Le tombeau de Couperin: II. Forlane
Le tombeau de Couperin: III. Menuet
Le tombeau de Couperin: IV. Rigaudon
Valses nobles et sentimentales: I. Modere
Valses nobles et sentimentales: II. Assez lent
Valses nobles et sentimentales: III. Modere
Valses nobles et sentimentales: IV. Assez anime
Valses nobles et sentimentales: V. Presque lent
Valses nobles et sentimentales: VI. Assez vif
Valses nobles et sentimentales: VII. Moins vif
Valses nobles et sentimentales: VIII. Epilogue. lent

Customer Reviews:

Coil yourself up and let yourself be mesmerized.......2003-08-07

The audience is reduced to be a bunch of serpents and snakes in a pit and Ravel is the snake charmer. The audience has to be mesmerized and hypnotized by the music, by the flute, clarinet, bassoon, oboe, oboe d'amore, saxophone, strings and many others. The drums and the percussions are there to make the audience undulate, imposing a rhythm behind, over and beyond the melody, the simple musical line played over and over by all the other instruments in succession and together, make the audience undulate to the music, all of them coiled up on their tails, their heads swaying to the right and to the left, forward and backward. Hence the audience is swallowed up in some kind of obsession and obsessive domination that they come to like and desire in total abandon to the drowning flow of the music. A sudden modulation in E major introduces a break, a moment of relief maybe, of liberation maybe, but also a moment during which the audience may try to recapture control over themselves, but it is shortlived and the audience falls back into the loss of themselves in the music that drapes them in a straightjacket of pure enjoying of this total loss of control. And the piece crashes, and the audience crashes along with it in a resounding finale of percussions and strings, falling back onto the ground and breaking a few limbs at the same time. The levitation is over. The hypnosis is over. The audience find themselves crawling on the ground broken and beaten. It is a perfect composition showing how strong music can be when the composer dominates the orchestra and the composition so brilliantly. Note this piece of music is all the better when the instruments have deep and rich sonorities.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

Ravel lovers take note........2003-02-07

Eugene Ormandy, Charles Munch and The Philadelphia Orchestra produce here unique sensitive readings of Ravel's Bolero,
Rhapsodie espagnole, Alborada del gracioso, and the Valses nobles et sentimentales. The stereo is stunning and the instruments are heard vividly in these complex orchestrations like no other CDs of these works I have heard. Although taped about 1960, the sound leaves nothing to be desired. These are fulfilling "new" readings of these orchestra showpieces. A real treaure in my music collection.

masterpiece.......2001-11-07

this is the greatest classical CD i have ever heard.
I love Debussy, Stravinsky, and Ravel, and this is an awesome
preformance by Eugene Ormandy.
I have listened to many other conductors of the same music
and they just don't possess the mysticism of this MASTERPIECE.

Ravel Plays Ravel (Original Piano Rolls)

Average customer rating:

incorrectly regulated piano roll reproducing mechanism
Only Ravel Knew!
Ravel as Ravel intended
A fraud!
Good music, but too mechanical.

Ravel Plays Ravel (Original Piano Rolls)

Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pavanes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
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Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky: Piano Concertos / Richter

ASIN: B000001VJ7
Release Date: 1995-05-16

Tracks:

Bolero: Orchestration
Pavane pour une infante difunte
Miroirs Suite For Piano: La Vallee des Cloches, No.5
'Le Tombeau de Couperin': Toccata
Gaspard de la Nuit No.2; Le Gibet
Oiseaux Tristes No.2

Customer Reviews:

incorrectly regulated piano roll reproducing mechanism.......2005-12-05

Not only is the toccata performed by Robert Casadesus and not by Ravel, as the recording states, but the Duo-Art rolls which were used to make this recording has been shown by historians to be _incorrectly calibrated_ (in the Ronald Woodley article in the cambrige compainion to ravel, p222) and therefore absurdly and grotesquely twisted.

There are recordings available with these rolls correctly calibrated and they are *wonderful* (the "masters of the piano roll" cd issued recently by dal segno)
[...]

don't let the cheap price fool you: Ravel would be seriously angered to have this recording attributed to him.

Only Ravel Knew!.......2003-05-09

There is some doubt about this "historical" recording. The title of the CD is "Ravel plays Ravel". Except what you read from the Amazon website, you couldn't find any information about the recording in the accompanying pamphlet or on the CD itself. There is no name for the orchestra that played the Bolero, you are not sure whether Ravel was the conductor to this anonymous orchestra or he was just a cymbals player sitting in the back of orchestra. For the solo piano pieces, it didn't say it was from live recordings or piano rolls. All the accompanying pamphlet said is just a brief generic biography of Ravel. Only two out of the seven works mentioned are actually on the CD.

The copyright of this recording is "1995 Delta Music", Delta Music is a seldem heard name. The CD is issued by a truly budget label - "Laser Light Digital". You certainly get a bottom budget price on this CD, but whether it is historical or not? only Ravel knew!

Ravel as Ravel intended.......2002-12-29

This CD cotains something that we normally do not get a look at - five works as they were actually performed by the original composer.

The "Bolero" that begins this recording, however, is by the Halle Orchestra under the baton of Sir John Barbirolli. Although not the best recording of "Bolero" (that distinction belongs to Pierre Boulez and the Berlin Philharmonic), it is certainly up to the standards of the remainder of the album.

And it is the rest of the numbers on this CD that give it the distinction it deserves. Transcribed and transferred from original piano rolls that had been manufactured from Ravel's own hand, these recordings are a rare look at musical works that were composed =and= played by the composer.

"Pavanne for a Dead Princess" starts the show, followed by "Valley of the Bells", a toccata from "Le Tombeau de Couperin", "The Gibbet", and "Sad Birds". There five recordings show students how Ravel himself would have played his own pieces.

These five recordings are what make this album a "must buy" for students and fans of Ravel and a worthy addition to the classical library, especially for classical radio stations.

A fraud!.......2002-10-22

Word has it that Ravel had another pianist record these piano rolls. Even if it were Ravel himself--who was no great virtuoso, by the way--these recordings were not restored or transferred with anything resembling care, nor is the piano used in the transfer a concert-worthy instrument. As for the orchestral recording of the Bolero, clearly this is an anonymous modern recording and has no connection to the composer.

Let's face it, this recording is being marketed as a historical document, and in that regard it has no value whatsoever. Why buy it?

Good music, but too mechanical........2002-10-03

credible. However, whenever a transfer is made from performance to recording or back, there is some loss. This is a good example. As much as I love the music, this sounds mechanical to me: I think the process that this was recorded by reduced the power of the recording. Perhaps this is just because I am a pianist, but the other reviewers seem to enjoy the album and seem very versed in music. In any case, my opinion, for what it is worth, is that it sounds like a player piano's playback of a great pianist's recording. (The orchestral Bolero is an exception, but there is a saxophone-sounding instrument that I believe comes out too strongly in the texture at one point.)

Average customer rating:

Wonderful interpretations of Ravel music
Everything is good but Le Tombeau de Couperin

Ravel: Orchestral Works

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Minuets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

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Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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Serge Koussevitzky conducts Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D Op. 25 "Classical"; Danse finale from Chout, Op. 21bis / Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9 in E-flat Op. 7 / Tchaikovsky: Francesca da Rimini Op. 32
Dvorák: Symphony No. 8; Cello Concerto
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6 "Pastoral" [Hybrid SACD]

ASIN: B000001GHS
Release Date: 1995-05-16

Tracks:

Bol - Tempo di Bolero moderato assai
Rapsodie espagnole: Prde a Nuit: TrMod
Rapsodie espagnole: Malaguena: Assez Vif - Assez Lent
Rapsodie espagnole: Habanera: Assez Lent et d'un Rythme Las
Rapsodie espagnole: Feria: Assez anim Trmod - De plus en plus anim
Valses nobles et sentimentales: Mod
Valses nobles et sentimentales: Assez lent
Valses nobles et sentimentales: Mod
Valses nobles et sentimentales: Assez Anim
Valses nobles et sentimentales: Presque Lent
Valses nobles et sentimentales: Assez Vif
Valses nobles et sentimentales: Moins Vif
Valses nobles et sentimentales: Epilogue: Lent
Ma M L'Oye: Prde: TrLent - Anim
Ma M L'Oye: Danse du Rouet et Sc: Allegro - TrLent
Ma M L'Oye: Pavane De La Belle Au Bois Dormant: Lent
Ma M L'Oye: Les Entretiens de La Belle et de La B - Mouvement de Valse Mod
Ma M L'Oye: Petit Poucet: Trmod
Ma M L'Oye: Laideronnette, Imptrice des Pagodes Mouvement de Marche
Ma M L'Oye: Le Jardin Fique: Lent et Grave

Tracks:

Menuet antique - Maestoso
Le tombeau de Couperin: Prelude: Vif
Le tombeau de Couperin: Forlane: Allegretto
Le tombeau de Couperin: Menuet: Allegro moderato
Le tombeau de Couperin: Rigaudon: Assex vif Moins vif - Assex vif
La Valse
Alborada del Gracioso
Une Barque sur l'Ocean
Pavane pour une infante defunte
Daphnis et Chloe
Daphnis et Chloe
Daphnis et Chloe

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful interpretations of Ravel music.......2006-03-16

This double decker DG release of the Ravel Orchestral works with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony are first rate recordings. This was my first exposure really to Ravel as a child and have since amassed recordings of various works by great conductors of his music including Abbado, Boulez, Martinon, and Previn. This collection still remains to be a favorite of mine.

I suspect that they are a favorite of mine in large part due to the fact that Mr. Ozawa was fresh in Boston having recently taken the helm there in the early 1970's. They are light, dynamic, fast-paced, exciting, not to mention the incredible recording techniques of the DG engineers.

My favorites in this collection include Alborada, La Valse, Rhapsodie, and of course Daphnis et Chloe Suite No.2. What I especially love about this Daphnis is that Seiji did not opt out of the chorus for the suite like so many conductors do. It really adds to the impressionistic sound that Ravel was so famous for.

As a percussionist myself , i found the section to be played cleanly - and these recordings bring out all the nuances without overpowering. The section simply sparkles. On the whole - the BSO (in my opinion) really stand up to their European counterparts.

I highly recommend this set - treat yourself and pick it up.

Everything is good but Le Tombeau de Couperin.......2001-04-30

I had never heard of Seiji Ozawa before I purchased this double-CD set. I can't say that I am awe-struck, but I am not disappointed.

This double CD has a great collection of Ravel's work, as you can see. My only complaint is the version of Le Tombeau de Couperin. At times it was as though the orchestra had trouble keeping up with Mr. Ozawa. Ravel liked to conduct his music at a breakneck pace, but I'm certain that he would have slowed down if he were extending beyond their limits. Other conductors that have done better versions of this piece are Andre Previn and Charles Dutoit.

Music Track:

Music Track

music track

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