Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé

Advantages: The experience of getting inside an artistic head
Disadvantages: French not quite idiomatic

.... Sur les lagunes 4. Absence 5. Au Cimetiere 6.L'ille inconnue RAVEL: Sheherazade: This is Ravel's Eastern nostalgia translated into songs. The cycle is based on Tristan Klingsor's text, and this rendition gives a strong experience of being briefly visited by a rather attention-deficited Oriental siren and her enchanted flute. 7. Asie 8. La Flute enchantee 9. L'Indifferent CHAUSSON: Poeme de l'amour et de la mer (Poem of love and of the Sea): Based on Maurice Bouchor's poems, this is pretty much a set of sung tone poems. Track 11 is a pensive instrumental number which contrasts well with the 2 songs sandwiching it. A final visit to the pensive lover by the sea whose lack of interest for companionship in the final tracks just demands that her privacy be respected at last and this 'eave-dropping' session must end. 10. La Fleur des eaux... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Authentic recording, a direct link to the composer of this beautiful music, very expressive and stylish.
Disadvantages: A different style with some small technical discrepences, some might prefer a more modern recording.

...The contributions of Maurice Ravel to the 20th century piano repertory are a tender and expressive gift, standing out as some of the best examples of French Impressionist solo pieces from that time along with works by his contemporaries Debussy and Fauré. Since his early death in 1930, many performers have turned to his pupils - Vlado Perlemuter, and Marguerite Long expecting that they, with all their close contact with him, would be the most direct link to the man himself. They strongly emphasise the idea of strictness, lack of any kind of exaggeration, expression or imitation of past traditions, as though the piece is like an object to be guarded. However "Masters of the Piano Roil..." is primary evidence that flatly contradicts what they say - there are over 250 recordings of Ravel playing his own work (some of the best featured... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Sublime
Disadvantages: Ends too soon!

...This CD has pride of place in my collection. Why? Because it contains some of the best classical music ever composed and the playing of the English Sinfonia, conducted by Sir Charles Groves, is absolutely right. It begins with Masques et Bergamasques op. 122, by Faure, which is a charming and happy tune. I think it might have been used as the signature tune for a radio or television programme when I was a child, but I am not certain on this point. The Sinfonia play the Overture, Menuet, Gavotte and Pastorale from the Masques et Bergamasques, then effortlessly glides into Faure's Chanson de Nuit, an exceptionally charming piece which is an exemplary example of pastorale. Serene, noble and lush. Perfection! Next comes Chanson de Nuit, by Elgar. Dream-filled, thoughtful, evocative, questing, all reasons why the music of Elgar is still so... Read review

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