Ravel's Rotunda

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Well, when we had our little period of Ravel focus a few weeks ago, I think I made my opinion on this opera clear - eg

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,17453.msg461868.html#msg461868
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,17442.msg461465.html#msg461465
(some weird statements about the piece on that thread, page 5!)

Another fun little exchange about the piece recently, starting:
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,17718.msg478607.html#msg478607
and then finishing with a retraction here
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,17718.msg478626.html#msg478626

I remember reading these posts, Luke. I completely forgot about that Ravel vs thread. Good to know you enjoy this opera and that you've explored Ravel's output to find the hidden gems. L'Enfant et les sortileges may end being my favorite Ravel work too. I just need to spend more time with it and hopefully these two recordings I bought will reveal some hidden details that I didn't quite pick up on in the Dutoit that I own.

[bhodges]

One of Lorin Maazel's strengths is L'enfant (his recording is widely admired), and I was lucky to hear him do the piece twice during his time with the New York Philharmonic.  Here is my review of the first one, in 2006.

It is a terrific score, with Ravel's great color instincts shown at their best.  I hope to see it fully staged at some point.

--Bruce

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One of Lorin Maazel's strengths is L'enfant (his recording is widely admired), and I was lucky to hear him do the piece twice during his time with the New York Philharmonic.  Here is my review of the first one, in 2006.

It is a terrific score, with Ravel's great color instincts shown at their best.  I hope to see it fully staged at some point.

--Bruce

Yes, Bruce, Maazel's performance is on my wish list. It's too bad the recording I want is out-of-print. Maybe I can track one down in the used market.

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Have been listening to this one tonight, got it off iTunes the other day ... good stuff.

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I've been considering this recording. How is Aimard's piano playing on this recording? I've read mixed feelings regarding the performances.

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Aimard is an amazing player .. and the performances are very good.

Yes, Aimard is a great player. Thanks for the comments.

[jowcol]

FWIW-- I went on a binge last week where, for at least 3 days, all I could listen to was the Piano Concerto for Left Hand.

In some cases, I tend not to like concerti as much because it seems the focus is on giving the soloist a workout rather than making a musical statement.  (Yes there are many exceptions, thank God).  But was I love about the Concerto for Left Hand is that I keep forgetting it's a concerto, which means to me that it's done its job.

[karlhenning]

FWIW-- I went on a binge last week where, for at least 3 days, all I could listen to was the Piano Concerto for Left Hand.

Hast read this?—

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For those who like pictures, I found a neat little gallery a few minutes ago: http://www.last.fm/music/Maurice+Ravel/+images?page=1

Many of these pictures I've seen, but there are a few rarities in there that surprised me.

[snyprrr]

I've been on a Piano Trio binge lately, and, of the Classic Repertoire, especially the farther you get from Mozart and Schubert, I am finding that I like Ravel's very much more then, say, Faure's, or even Brahms. The very first notes speak of something familiar to the 20th Century: tonal, yet not in the received style, more popular sounding,... cool.

There does seem to be an Urban Sophistication here, but I can not think of who to compare to,... except Satie? Or,... I'm thinking Roy Harris/Copland? I don't know, I'm just saying that as far as the typical Classic Repertoire goes, Ravel 'hits' on a sound that... well, I'm sure you could explain it better, haha! It's French, it's posh,...

All I have is the VoxBox. I can't possible ask for recommends, seeing that there must be many many good recordings. I was thinking of the soundtrack to 'A Heart in Winter', with the Duo and Violin Sonata. Then there's the Florestan and Fontenay in competing Deb/Rav/Faur sets.

[Mirror Image]

I've been on a Piano Trio binge lately, and, of the Classic Repertoire, especially the farther you get from Mozart and Schubert, I am finding that I like Ravel's very much more then, say, Faure's, or even Brahms. The very first notes speak of something familiar to the 20th Century: tonal, yet not in the received style, more popular sounding,... cool.

There does seem to be an Urban Sophistication here, but I can not think of who to compare to,... except Satie? Or,... I'm thinking Roy Harris/Copland? I don't know, I'm just saying that as far as the typical Classic Repertoire goes, Ravel 'hits' on a sound that... well, I'm sure you could explain it better, haha! It's French, it's posh,...

All I have is the VoxBox. I can't possible ask for recommends, seeing that there must be many many good recordings. I was thinking of the soundtrack to 'A Heart in Winter', with the Duo and Violin Sonata. Then there's the Florestan and Fontenay in competing Deb/Rav/Faur sets.

The best versions of Ravel's Piano Trio that I've heard are with the Nash Ensemble (Virgin Classics) and Florestan Trio (Hyperion). I don't really see how these performances could be bettered.

[Lisztianwagner]

Maurice Ravel is my favourite french composer, along with Debussy and Berlioz.
His music, neither totally impressionist nor modernist, is very innovative and original, absolutely lyrical and poetical; it's incredibly rich of beauty and power, with a huge orchestral brilliance, very expressive, but it's at the same time full of great harmonies and intricate modulations, often showing an amazing virtuosity, very refined and technically perfect.
Daphnis et Chloè is my favourite Ravel's composition, absolutely impressive and thrilling, but I also love other orchestral works of him, like Le Tombeau de Couperin, Valse nobles et sentimentales, La Valse (but these are just few), and of course Ravel's piano music (like Gaspard de la nuit).

[madaboutmahler]

Maurice Ravel is my favourite french composers, along with Debussy and Berlioz.
His music, neither totally impressionist nor modernist, is very innovative and original, absolutely lyrical and poetical; it's incredibly rich of beauty and power, with a huge orchestral brilliance, very expressive, but it's at the same time full of great harmonies and intricate modulations, often showing an amazing virtuosity, very refined and technically perfect.
Daphnis et Chloè is my favourite Ravel's composition, absolutely impressive and thrilling, but I also love other orchestral works of him, like Le Tombeau de Couperin, Gaspard de la nuit, La Valse (but these are just few), and of course Ravel's piano music.

One of my absolute favourite composers too, Ilaria. Absolutely brilliant, beautiful, spectacular music. Daphnis et Chloe is certainly one of my favourite pieces of all time. I think, in this piece in particular, and of course in many others (L'Enfant being another great example), Ravel demonstrates how he is one of the absolute greatest masters of the orchestra. Such brilliance! 

[Lisztianwagner]

One of my absolute favourite composers too, Ilaria. Absolutely brilliant, beautiful, spectacular music. Daphnis et Chloe is certainly one of my favourite pieces of all time. I think, in this piece in particular, and of course in many others (L'Enfant being another great example), Ravel demonstrates how he is one of the absolute greatest masters of the orchestra. Such brilliance! 

Yes, Ravel was able to show up the expressive possibilities of the instruments in a very beautiful way, and with a great precision; sure, L'Enfant is a clear example of his great skills of orchestrator, it's an absolutely brilliant and poetical work. Both Maazel and Previn made excellent recordings of it.

[madaboutmahler]

Yes, Ravel was able to show up the expressive possibilities of the instruments in a very beautiful way, and with a great precision; sure, L'Enfant is a clear example of his great skills of orchestrator, it's an absolutely brilliant and poetical work. Both Maazel and Previn made excellent recordings of it.

I really like Rattle's performance of it too!

[Lisztianwagner]

I really like Rattle's performance of it too!

Agreed, Rattle's recording is very good

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Maurice Ravel is my favourite french composer, along with Debussy and Berlioz.
His music, neither totally impressionist nor modernist, is very innovative and original, absolutely lyrical and poetical; it's incredibly rich of beauty and power, with a huge orchestral brilliance, very expressive, but it's at the same time full of great harmonies and intricate modulations, often showing an amazing virtuosity, very refined and technically perfect.
Daphnis et Chloè is my favourite Ravel's composition, absolutely impressive and thrilling, but I also love other orchestral works of him, like Le Tombeau de Couperin, Valse nobles et sentimentales, La Valse (but these are just few), and of course Ravel's piano music (like Gaspard de la nuit).

Agreed on all points. I own 26 recordings of the complete ballet of Daphnis et Chloe. I haven't heard all of them, but this is a work that continues through each passing year impress each time I hear it. Brilliant orchestration, melodies, harmonies, and rhythms. It's work that is in my top 10 favorite works of all-time. Other Ravel works I love: both piano concerti, Sheherazade, Piano Trio, L'enfant et les sortileges, Ma Mère l'oye, Valses nobles et sentimentales, among others.

[Lisztianwagner]

Agreed on all points. I own 26 recordings of the complete ballet of Daphnis et Chloe. I haven't heard all of them, but this is a work that continues through each passing year impress each time I hear it. Brilliant orchestration, melodies, harmonies, and rhythms. It's work that is in my top 10 favorite works of all-time. Other Ravel works I love: both piano concerti, Sheherazade, Piano Trio, L'enfant et les sortileges, Ma Mère l'oye, Valses nobles et sentimentales, among others.

Daphnis et Chloecan be certainly one of my favourite pieces of all time as well. I also adore the other works you mentioned.
Wow, 26 recordings!? What is the best one you've ever heard so far? The Boulez version, with BPO, is absolutely a masterpiece: perfect tempo, great harmony, excellent phrasing, beauty and power; I think another amazing performance is the Abbado, wonderful.

[snyprrr]

Listened to the PC (Thibaudet(sic)),... finding it very urbane, very much a 'night on the town' with lots of glittering lights; but I also heard the rows of fields of the countryside. I especially like the slow movement, which has an almost detached view of beauty, never getting too emotional, but still giving a sublime picture of controlled passion.

Two PCs that 'feel' the same...um, two I like a little better, because I find them a little more melodic, are Poulenc's, and Martinu's Sinfonietta Giocosa. They seem a little more Mozartean to me, more to be pleased by.

The Left Hand Concerto is quite different, though not as 'black' as I would have hoped for. What is the creepiest PC? (Baudelaire, Poe-ish?)

[North Star]

And I can't think of a more lyrical & beguiling String Quartet than the one Ravel wrote!

That is certainly one of my favourites in the whole quartet literature.
Other favourites from Ravel: the piano trio, violin sonata, and the piano music.
The piano concertos and Daphnis I've heard only once or twice, I should get recordings... (probably that Boulez DG 2-fer and PCs with Zimerman or Aimard - suggestions are most welcome)

[Luke]

Two PCs that 'feel' the same...um, two I like a little better, because I find them a little more melodic, are Poulenc's, and Martinu's Sinfonietta Giocosa. They seem a little more Mozartean to me, more to be pleased by.

Given that the Adagio of the Concerto in G was directy modelled on a Mozart Adagio, I'd award this crown (as many others!) to Ravel.

Melody is in the ear of the beholder, btw, and of course, but fwiw I can't think of many works more thoroughly melodic than these two masterpieces of Ravel's. More than this, - the melodic content and structure of both concerti packs an unusual and formidable moral/formal punch. Think of the weight of meaning with which the various types of melodic material in the left hand concerto are invested - the sarabande material, sometimes grotesque, sometimes poetic, sometimes overpowering; the jazz material, banal, obsessive, driven; the brief islands of more subjective material, allowed to grow for a moment and then submit... Or think of the structural weight put upon the long unfolding and repetition of that exquisite tune in the aforementioned Adagio - the power of its eventual return, for all its gentleness! - or the tight control exercised over the amount of expression implicit in the melodic mterial of the first movement of that concerto - Ravel allows melodies their head, then reins them in when they get too swooningly Rachmaninovian (there's a passage he cut around the cadneza when it got a bit too excited, for that reaosn)