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| DG (Full price) (CD) 429 768-2GH3 (three discs, nas: 201 minutes: DDD). Items marked a from 415 972-2GH (12/86), b 427 679-2GH (4/90), c 423 665-2GH (2/89), d 427 314-2GH (7/89). |
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| Bolero a. Rapsodie espagnole a. Ma mere l'oye a. Pavane pour une infante defunte a. Daphnis et Chloe—ballet (with London Symphony Chorus) b. [Valse] Valses nobles et sentimentales b. Le tombeau de Couperin c. Alborada del gracioso d. Sheherazade—Ouverture de feerie d. Menuet antique c. Une barque sur l'ocean d. Fanfare pour "L'eventail de Jeanne" c. La valse d. |
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| Montreal SO, Dutoit (3/83) (8/83) (3/84) (11/84) (R) 421 458-2DM4 |
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| Daphnis et Chloe—selected comparison: |
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| ROH Chor, LSO, Monteux (5/90) 425 956-2DM |
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A compilation of Ravel reissues from DG's current premium conductor, which, no doubt, explains that Company's premium price. The sophistication and power of these performances is something to marvel at, though Le tombeau de Couperin and the Valses nobles et sentimentales are despatched rather coolly. The dynamic extremes of Daphnis are exploited as never before with an extraordinary textural control. But what of the middle ground? The passage for strings in the "Pantomime" where Pan/Daphnis declares his love for Syrinx/Chloe, has Monteux (in his 1959 performance), with the same orchestra on a midprice Decca Historic issue, shaping a declaration of playful tenderness and, intimacy, whereas Abbado, with some unmarked slides, manages only an unappealing cinematic cliche (track 21, 0'53").
The riper Ravel of La valse sounds oddly drained. Even though it post-dates Berg's Three Orchestral Pieces by five years, it is worth remembering that Ravel's impression was of a waltz in an imperial palace at around 1855. And to its final pages Abbado brings a deliberate, forced act of destruction, rather than a cumulative and inevitable one.
For a fuller understanding of this composer there remains Dutoit's survey on Decca (a four-CD Ovation mid-price box-set which should cost no more than Abbado's three CDs). It does not contain the early Sheherazade Overture (not a serious loss), but does include the two piano concertos. Decca's sound is generally richer and better blended.
JS