recommended recordings / performances of Ravel

[Reverend Bong]

I'd be grateful for recommendations of outstanding recordings of Ravel, in particular the concerto in G.  I have an LP in very poor condition, a copy of the Classics for Pleasure reissue of Samson Francois with Andre Cluytens conducting, which has made me realise I need a clean copy of a good performance.  This one sounds great to me, is it highly regarded?  Unfortunately it was originally on Columbia SAX and as with all SAX blue/silver label LPs now costs hundreds of doubloons.  Is there a CD transfer that is good enough for the very particular audience we have here?  The Bongolians won't accept anything but the best from the vicarage public address system.

[Turner]

There are tons of very fine recordings of the Concerto in G, and none can be said to be the best per se. I´ve accumulated 21 ones, including the Francois/Cluytens, which is often highly regarded, but not among the most lively ones, IMO.

Some stereo versions I´d recommend at least checking out would be

- Michelangeli/Gracis/EMI (not among the too subdued of his recordings; usually coupled with the Rachmaninov 4th Concerto only)
- Grimaud/L-Coboz (also included in a good, inexpensive 5 CD Brilliant Classics box)
- Zimerman/Boulez/DG (has both concertos, including a very fine and engaged Left Hand Concerto)
- at least 4 different Argerich recordings, in various couplings, but not with the Left Hand Concerto
- Collard/Maazel/EMI (also with a fine Left Hand Concerto)

[Drasko]

Michelangeli / Gracis
Francois / Cluytens
Zimerman / Boulez

[amw]

François/Cluytens is excellent as far as I can recall. It's been reissued on Warner Classics (and previously EMI) from the original master tapes, or some other such gimmick. My own mainstay is Argerich (on DG; I don't remember how many times she's recorded it) which might be a good contrasting version.

[JCBuckley]

Michelangeli/Gracis/EMI and this set:

[NikF]

Another vote for the Michelangeli/Gracis. And I've a recording by Monique Haas with Paray/Orchestre National de l'ORTF(?) that's so simple and straightforward (and despite the piano seeming to go from  mono to stereo at one point) which has a charm of its own. But I'll need to have a listen to a few others - particularly the Argerich.

[Brian]

Can't go wrong with Zimerman, Michelangeli, Argerich, or Grimaud! I agree with Turner that Zimerman is a top pick because it also comes with a grrrrrrrreat recording of the other piano concerto.

And in general, my top 10 Ravel recordings are probably:
- piano concertos (Zimerman/Cleveland/Boulez/DG)
- Daphnis et Chloe / La valse (Berlin/Boulez/DG)
- nearly-complete solo piano music (Abbey Simon/Vox)
- nearly-complete solo piano music (Michael Endres/Oehms)
- Ma Mere l'Oye + other stuff (French Radio Orch/Martinon/EMI)
- string quartet (Quatuor Ebene/Virgin)
- Miroirs for solo piano (Herbert Schuch)
- Sheherazade (Gens/Loire/Axelrod/Ondine)
- Le Tombeau de Couperin, arranged for saxophone quartet (Ellipsos Quartet/Genuin)
- uhhhh I can't think of a #10 right now.

[North Star]

- Ma Mere l'Oye + other stuff (French Radio Orch/Martinon/EMI)

That has nothing on Argerich & Pletnev, or Pascal & Denise-Francoise Rogé, or Argerich, Freire, Sadlo & Guggeis. 

- Le Tombeau de Couperin, arranged for saxophone quartet (Ellipsos Quartet/Genuin)

*report to moderator*  0:)

My general Ravel recording recommendation is the Decca box. Superb recordings of all the music, not least the songs, operas and chamber music. PCs too, Abbado & LSO with Argerich in the G major and Béroff in the Concerto for the Left Hand

[Todd]

Zimerman/Boulez
Michelangeli/Gracis
Kocsis/Fischer

[Jo498]

Francois/Cluytens is considered one of the "classic" recordings of the piece
whatever you do, get the left hand concerto (a piece I decidedly prefer) as well. This excludes Argerich and Michelangeli as a first choice...

[Mandryka]

It's interesting, the Ravel CD that means the most to me is the one Boulez made with Heather Harper.

And there is one Ravel CD which has been a source of irritation for over twenty years: irritation because I just can't get my head round it - I'm talking about Pogorelich's Valses Nobles et Sentimentales.

I know nothing about the concerto I'm afraid.

[NikF]

Ravel's string quartet was one of the first works I found myself interested in and so initially I bought many different recordings of it. However I've mostly settled on two. The first is by the Emerson Quartet. It's (to my ears) highly polished and dynamic. The other is by The Parennin Quartet. If it sounds less exuberant than the Emerson performance that doesn't mean it lacks passion and colour. I simply find it more laid back and cool and (to use a word I seem to be applying to everything just now) hugely charming.

[Spineur]

François/Cluytens is excellent as far as I can recall. It's been reissued on Warner Classics (and previously EMI) from the original master tapes, or some other such gimmick. My own mainstay is Argerich (on DG; I don't remember how many times she's recorded it) which might be a good contrasting version.

YESSSS !! I had the original vynil and I got this hires remastered version and for once the engineers did a very nice good job, especially with the piano.  The winds instruments come out of the orchestra with good definition.
I love the intro to the left end concerto with the double basson and the double basses.  Great to test a hifi system for the basses.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Vlado Perlemuter is my favorite for this concerto and much of the piano music. Francois is a bit more athletic and virtuosic in the Concerto for the Left Hand.  I actually like Gieseking EMI set for the Ravel solo piano music--much more than his Debussy recordings. Gieseking brings immense technique and a wonderful sense of the overall architecture, especially of the more dense pieces such as Scarbo and Alboradao del Graszioso (sp? Too lazy to look it up). Michelangeli, as great as his interpretations are, seems a little too transparent in this repertiore. Gilels recorded a breathtaking Jeux d'Eau

[Peter Power Pop]

Ravel's string quartet was one of the first works I found myself interested in and so initially I bought many different recordings of it. However I've mostly settled on two. The first is by the Emerson Quartet. It's (to my ears) highly polished and dynamic. The other is by The Parennin Quartet. If it sounds less exuberant than the Emerson performance that doesn't mean it lacks passion and colour. I simply find it more laid back and cool and (to use a word I seem to be applying to everything just now) hugely charming.

"Laid back"? "Cool"? "Charming"? That's good enough for me. I just bought the Parrenin recording. Thanks, NikF.



Update: I'm now listening to the CD, and I'm ambivalent about it. I'm enjoying the Parrenin's conception of the works, but I'm not enjoying the execution. Intonation's pretty sloppy, and the balance is a bit off from time to time (e.g., the viola is too loud in the first movement of the Debussy). However, I like the unanimity of the playing, and the mellow recording quality. (Everything's nice and woody.)

I hope I enjoy it more after listening to it a few more times.

Update 2: I did.

[Daverz]

One of the most beautiful single Ravel discs I know:

[asin]B00004TCPS[/asin]

It's also in the Martinon Chicago box, along with a bit more Ravel.

[Spineur]

Another very original piece of Ravel is his sonata for violin and Cello.  I have the Kantorow-Fushiwara recording coupled with a Kodaly sonata.  There are a number of other good recording, including a Suk-Oistrakh which I heard once on the radio.
A rarely performed Ravel repertoire are the chansons (VERY FAR from the usual french style): chansons populaires grecques, chansons madécasses, chansons sur les poemes de Mallarmé.  The Boulez-Norman-Van Dam-Gomez recording is superb.

[Mirror Image]

I'm not exactly sure what you're looking for, but here are a few possibilities:

L'enfant et les sortileges - Maazel on Deutsche Grammophon
Orchestral Works - Dutoit on Decca
Piano Concertos - Jean-Efflam Bavouzet on Chandos
Piano Works - Jean-Efflam Bavouzet on MD&G
Complete Works for Violin/Piano - Ibragimova/Osborne on Hyperion
Vocal Works - Boulez on Sony
Piano Trio - Nash Ensemble on Virgin Classics (coupled with Debussy's equally great chamber music)

[vandermolen]

François/Cluytens is excellent as far as I can recall. It's been reissued on Warner Classics (and previously EMI) from the original master tapes, or some other such gimmick. My own mainstay is Argerich (on DG; I don't remember how many times she's recorded it) which might be a good contrasting version.

I have the fine CFP LP too. I always liked Ernest Ansermet's recordings of Debussy and Ravel.
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[asin]B001L28ILO[/asin]

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Jennie Tourel's recording of Kaddisch is the greatest vocal recording I have ever heard.