Customer Reviews

Maurice Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé / La Valse - Berliner Philharmoniker / Pierre Boulez

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This recording of Ravel's masterpiece is simply stunning. This is Boulez's second recording of the complete ballet. His understanding of the music, phrasing, shading come out in every bar. His is aided by the peerless Berlin Philharmonic. This is the BPO first recording of the complet ballet, it is also the best played. The orchestra plays effortlessly and colors the music wonderfully. They are able to bring their wonderfully huge sound to the big moments and also play with great lightness and grace so solo's come through as they should. Terrific flute solo in the final part of the ballet. This is a great album showing a great partnership between the BPO and Pierre Boulez. Little need to be said about La Valse other than it's a great performance.

Highest recommendation.

I am coming to admire Boulez's Ravel more everyday, much more than his Debussy. And I don't consider the two as most as representations of musical impressionism. Both were master innovators of sound. And Ravel was at bit more sensitive to the orcehstral pallette. This massive score needs someone with a global vision of the work, its exquisite timbres are actually contained in quite conventional forms, repetition. However the fast and filigree woodwinds and the divisi strings, and the large palette of string harmonics makes this a feast for the ears. Yet there are moments of sublime ugliness, the muted brass or whenever the density accelerates with held brass chords. Boulez was the first actually to take away the movie music elements in this music, having a great discipline toward the rhyhthm and sound. Great refined and gentle playing is what's here. The music is understood very deeply.

Boulez is one of my favorite conductors living today. I simply love his Grammophone performances on almost all of the post-romantic pieces I heard on radio and CD - starting with Debussy's La Mer (which one him Grammys), Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin, and Stravinsky's Firebird (Complete Version) - the only exception was the Rite of Spring.

This CD is deninitely no exception. When I heard "Daphnis and Chloe" for the first time on a radio station with the Berlin Phil under Boulez, I loved it! The orchestra was good, the choir was great, and the sound quality was definitely nice. But it was the finale which really made me to never hesitate to buy the CD. I later tested other performances on the ballet, but nothing seems to overpower Boulez's interpretation, the orchestra's massive frenzy, the choir's dynamic "Ahhs", and the percussion alone was thumbs up! His finale is the best Daphnis finale ever!!! If you haven't heard the ballet, never hesitate to buy this CD.

For years the Charles Munch performance of DAPHNIS was the one to own. It was one of the early miracles of LP vinyl; not merely because of the grealy improved Hi-Fi reproducion technique, but because for the first time you could experience the entire ballet. Suddenly it was't just bautiful; it made sense. The Munch performance is still a great performance (didn't he premier the ballet?) and the Dutoit is excellent, as well. But there is no soubt the Boulez recording is the best, and that, in and of itself is phenomenal considering the high quality of the Munch and the Dutoit recordings.

When I play the Daphnis I don't do anything but listen. All distractoins are put away. This is not "backgrond" music; its foeground music. To me this is one of the handfull of great symphonies of the world. It isn't often thought of as a symphony, though Ravel called it a Choreographic Symphony. Three movements with chorus. Seems unorthodox, but the French symphonies are usually different in some way. Consider the Saint-Saens for Organ for example, or the five movement Berlioz Fantastic Symphony, or the Lalo Symphony on a Mountain Air, or the Cesar Franc: Why not the Martinu symphonies as well? All vividly sensual, emotional, all out-of-the ordinary -- or anti-scholastic though academic exercises, like the Bizet -- and all frequently theatrical.

One can't really comment on Boulez's work coherently if one is a layman, because, face it, you have to be at near genius-level even to read the score. This incredible music begins at the highest level of virtuosity for all the instruments in the orchestra. All I can say is that Pierre does his "disappearing act" before us, and in a rush of wind machine sound offers us this music for a great Diaghalev ballet, written expressly for Nijinski's dancing, and played or performed before astonishing scenery by the great Baxt. Now, enter Ravel, the Wizard!

None of that pre-WW I magic exists for us today, though if you are new to it you might see what you can find in your local College Library, picture section. Vanished world... And then, finally, switch off anything that might distract you and put the diskette in the player. Open your set carefully: This recording is daring because Boulez accepted that articulation of volume range was and is an integral part of Ravel's compositional method, and therefore the recording level wasn't determined in the engineer's booth. Previously the ends (highs and lows) of musical performances were trimmd by engineers so that the result in playback sounded like something you got out of a large, expensive RCA or Zenith or Magnavox radio-phonograph, in a large, expensively and comfortably furnished living room. O, That beautiful bourgeois sound! Instead, with this recording it was decided to produce as closely as digital media allowed, the sound he, Boulez heard while he directed the work in a symphonic hall. Which would be about what you heard in the first or second row of the audience. (This is a kind of re-creation of the approach Mercuy Records took when it chose to record some of the best pieces of the Chicago Symphony when Rafael Kublik led it: They decided not to record in a studio, but in Orchestra Hall itself. A single Telefunken microphone was hung directly over the conductor's head and the material was recorded without cuts or edits. The results were phenomenal and set the standard for symphonic recordings on vinyl. The performances are still available, and better than most.) So, play the first quiet notes just to gage the sound and set levels. Woodwinds fluttering quietly is what you should hear. So, start it again, lie down on the floor -- which is what I usually do -- and with your mind, just watch the music unfold... A morning breeze stirs the vegetabion, gently blowing sand from the shore; the birds wake as the first rays of sunlight fall on you as you rise and look out over the Agean sea. The world is new, pristine. A small band of young people appear, laughing and playing; lightly dressed or nearly naked. Innocent, they look as though they've only just leapt off a frieze. Tritons blow their conchs. The ancient story begins.

This is what the modern symphony orchestra is for, and modern recording. If you're at all like me you'll find that when the music finishes you won't be able to listen to any other music for a while. Some hours? Maybe a day. To me, everything else sounds second-rate, so I take time to decompress.

Some scholars have told us that the most important and influential music of the first half of the 20th cenury was Stravinski's RITE OF SPRING, and others say the second half belongs to Bartok's CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA. They may be right. I don't dispute it. But, I prefer to think that the century's artistic glory ought to be measured in thirds, and that between the Neo-Cubist Primitivism of Le Sacre and the courageous Hungrian Anti-Soviet, anti-bombastic ridicule of Bartok's, there stands like a fulcrum of sane civility, Ravel's declaration in music of our human need for and fervent love of (Father) Nature, the great god Pan.

Having had such success in their interpretations of five of Maurice Ravel's best-loved pieces, including "Bolero", in 1993, conductor Pierre Boulez came back to lead Karajan's Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra the following year with this brilliant recording of the composer's so-called "choreographic poem" "Daphnis And Chloe."

But instead of breaking it up into the two suites as had long been custom to do, Boulez decided to do the whole thing unabridged in all its powerful and even sensual glory. The result is perhaps the single greatest complete recording of this massive 57 minute-long work, complete with Ravel's vivid orchestral colours, wind machine, and a wordless chorus (this one being the Berlin Radio Chorus). As in their previous Ravel sojourn, Boulez and the Berlin Philharmonic bring Ravel's musical vision to life with extreme brilliance. Their performance of "La Valse", Ravel's masterful 20th century tribute to the waltz form laid down by Vienna's Strauss dynasty, to conclude the recording is also top-notch.

Boulez is still considered something of a controversial conductor in some quarters despite having been associated with many of the world's greatest orchestras for decades now, but recordings like these also ensure that he is one of the best there is around, particularly with respect to the 20th century repertoire.

I read somewhere that this was a "Daphnis and Chloe" for the 21st Century. And that certainly seems to be what the makers of this album were aiming for. The details and the sound are eerily clear, crisp, and, often shockingly, loud. It sounds as though each individual instrument had its own microphone for this recording. This gives the recording an unrealistic, nearly modern rock sound which may be making Ravel do cartwheels in his grave.

Still, this is my favorite piece of music, and I'm glad it was chosen for such an overblown treatment. I often think that this is a good way to get semi-fans of classical music (the ones who just like the big loud things) more interested in better music. Plus, it is a great performance overall, and the absurdly detailed sound has allowed me to hear previously hidden instrument's parts.

For something that MAY be truer to Ravel's vision (but, who knows for sure, eh?) listen to Charles Munch or, of course, Charles Dutoit.

As for La Valse, I think it's always a foolish idea when CD companies put a smaller work after a major one -- it spoils the effect. Still, it's a fine performance of a great piece (but, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000003EPQ/qid=1112296307/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/102-4748688-6992149?v=glance&s=classical">Charles Munch's version</a> is still my favorite, and apparently the favorite of the other people who reviewed it, too).

The French impressionist composer, Maurice Ravel, did enjoy writing for the medium of dance. His Spanish influenced works exemplify that. This CD includes two works written for the Ballet Russe: the complete ballet of Daphnis et Chloe and the single movement La Valse.

Daphnis and Chloe is a love story surrounded by Greek mythology. Set in three parts (totaling about 57 minutes), the first part deals with the meeting and courtship of the couple. Eventually, there is a dance-off between Chloe's two suitors, a vile peasant, and the charming Daphnis. A humorous episode shows the farmer dance and the crowd laughing him off the stage. In time, a band of pirates invade and capture Chloe, ending Part One. Part Two takes place at the pirate camp, where a rugged and rollicking dance introduces the pirates. Chloe is forced to dance for the pirate king; she pleads to be let go. After Daphnis prays to the God Pan, Pan and his creatures set upon the pirate camp and the couple reunite to begin Part Three. The last section retells the lengthy story of Pan and Syrinx, and all ends in jubilation. The music is Ravel at his most impressionistic, but also showing his vivid orchestral writing. There is such dramatic and Romantic sweep to the music; lush string and wind writing, exciting and varied dances, and creative themes and colors. Much of the music is also virtuosic, with exceptional writing for flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. An air of mysticism is also added by including wordless chorus throughout the work, and a few exciting moments which include a wind-machine. The love story is amply told with Ravel's lush and vivid colors, as well as an interesting story line.

The ballet is coupled with La Valse, subtitled Poeme choreographique. It is a sort of nightmarish, grotesque Viennese Waltz. The beginning is filled with low tessitura sounds, and the music rises and falls until the end, when the waltz is thrown in your face. Much like other works of Ravel's impressionism, the colors are vivid, not fuzzy, and perhaps in this case, a bit expressionistic and dark. It is a great ride and a unique work.

Pierre Boulez is a consummate master of Claude Debussy interpretations, and it helps him in this disk. Boulez makes the ballet shimmer, always following very closely to the score, observing all of Ravel's tempo, dynamic, and articulation markings to a "T". The Berlin Philharmonic surprisingly tackles this French music with much gusto. They have a fullness and weight that is required from the music and gives the music a deep sheen. This is aided by DG's 4-dimension recording, giving the ensemble warmth and remarkable unity and ensemble. I do not suggest this CD as a starting point of experiencing Ravel; but it certainly has its high merits and great for any fan of Ravel. Beautiful and ravishing music. TT: 70:46

Before Boulez applied his x-ray touch to Ravel in the early Sixties, the composer's music was in danger of seeming glib, slinky, and luxuriant. Boulez rode to the rescue with a eprformance style that dazzled through absolute clarity and precision, turning hothouse orcheds into cut glass. Ever since, his Ravel has earned more kowtows than the Mikado. One of the strictest intellectuals among composers loved swoony Ravel!

And yet I wonder. When I listen to the honest, emotionally direct readings given by Monteux in old age (Decca) -- he, too, made a specialty of Ravel and had conducted the premiere of Daphnis in Paris in 1912 -- I come away moved, while the chilliness of Boulez's approach, which is always serious as well, doesn't move me at all. Here he has the phenomenal Berlin Phil. at his disposal, so we get the utmost in technical command without necessarily much sensuous warmth. As every other reviewer says, this is superior music-making. However, the reading of La Valse isn't satiric, suave, sneaky, or seductive. It's steely all the way, as if robots and not ghosts have invaded the ballroom.

The Chailly recording of Daphnis et Chloé is truly excellent in terms of both performance and sound quality, and as a bonus, it features as a diskmate the rarely recorded score by Debussy, Khamma, an interesting piece that sounds somewhat similar to Daphnis. I have owned several recordings of Ravel's ballet score, both on LP and CD, and have auditioned others, and would rate this London CD as one of the better I have heard. Be that as it may, though, the Boulez disk is my clear pick between these two, for several reasons.

First, although it was interesting to hear a rarely recorded score by Debussy, I much prefer the diskmate on DG, Ravel's La Valse, a remarkable piece of music that is well served by Boulez, the Berliners, and the DG engineers.

Second, as good as the sound is on the London disk, the DG engineers have done a slightly but noticeably better job, augmented by Boulez's incomparable ability to bring out every strand of a score. The DG has subtly better transparency, and notably better bass, which shows up especially well on "Gorgon's Dance" and the introduction to Part Two. The DG version also offers a more convincing sense of both width and depth.

Yes, these sonic differences are subtle, but they are less subtle than the differences among CD players or amplifiers: why is it that audiophiles will waste so much energy pontificatingCand prevaricatingCabout the alleged differences they hear in equipment, but never seem to spend any time discussing the differences amongst recordings? Don't get me started...

Back to another reason why I prefer the Boulez CD: the chorus on his version (the Rundfunkchor Berlin) has a slightly richer sound that to these ears at least seems more evocative than the Netherlands Radio Choir on the London disk.

Finally, as I started to mention above, Boulez has a gift for bringing out all the subtleties in a score, and in this music, the clarity he brings to the music brings life to the score. Based on this and other recordings by Boulez, I would observe that Boulez seems to have a fundamental respect for music that compels him to take music quite seriously. Music is never mere entertainment for him--he never coasts through a piece just hitting up the obvious crowd-pleasing highlights. (And no, I am not accusing Chailly of such an approach.) Instead, Boulez looks into the score and discovers every little multicolored facet; indeed, his interpretation of Daphnis et Chloé is a wondrous jewel that is given extra sparkle by the DG engineering team.

Those who have been put off by the thin, flat sound afforded the Berlin Philharmonic by DG during the von Karajan era will be very pleasantly surprised when they hear what DG hath wrought with their "4D" recording. No matter how many recordings of Daphnis you might own, you really need to hear this one.

While there are numerous performances of the Suite 1 and Suite 2 extracted from Maurice Ravel's magnificently and passionately orchestral work 'Daphnis Et Chloé', there are far too few performances or recordings of this important ballet score. Scored for huge orchestra and large wordless chorus, the impact of hearing this work in a live performance is truly overwhelming, the sort of experience that still exhumes the old Victorian 'swoon' effect. Having just returned from the wonders of Disney Hall in Los Angeles where Esa-Pekka Salonen and the LA Phil with the Pacific Chorale performed the entire work in the finest, most intricately detailed yet wholly sensuous sound reverberating throughout the complete spectrum and ambience of that great hall this listener has ever experienced, the need for an encore brought this CD with Pierre Boulez and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus off the shelf and into the machine.

Boulez also works magic with this score, revealing the entire seemingly capricious rhythmic changes and dynamics spectrum like the master conductor he is. The orchestra is sensitive to his every thought and the addition of the choral color is kept in perfect balance with the orchestral fabric, treating the chorus as simply additional orchestral members just as Ravel wanted. It is a glorious recording.

The one reservation with this CD is the 'encore' of tacking 'La Valse' on at the end. As if the passion of the Daphnis Et Chloé weren't enough, this popular blockbuster by Ravel, gorgeous though it is, seems to take away from the climax of the ballet. It simply isn't necessary to include it on the disc and while it is brilliantly played, it detracts from the beauty of the ballet performance. Knowing when to stop is really important when programming music both in the hall and on CD. Grady Harp, May 05