Ravel: Boléro / Alborada del Gracioso / La Valse / Daphnis et Chloé - Suite No. 2 (Bernstein Century)

Maurice Ravel (Composer), Leonard Bernstein (Conductor), Orchestre National de France (Orchestra), Schola Cantorum (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Schola Cantorum
• Orchestra: Orchestre National de France
• Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
• Composer: Maurice Ravel
• Audio CD (July 14, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000009CYF
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,493 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

What a potent combo: Maurice Ravel and Leonard Bernstein. Boléro slowly comes to a steady boil without any ingredients overflowing. By contrast, in Alborada del Gracioso and La Valse, Bernstein thoroughly revels in his French orchestra's watery brass and silvery string tuttis. Back in Manhattan, the Daphnis and Chloé suite and Rapsodie Espagnol are lusty without ever sounding vulgar. Some might find the miking a hair spotlit for their tastes, but Ravel's breathtaking orchestration can withstand such scrutiny. So can Bernstein and company. An ingratiating release. --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the best rendition of Bolero or La Valse, June 8, 2004

By 

Mike Yerkes (San Diego CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ravel: Boléro / Alborada del Gracioso / La Valse / Daphnis et Chloé - Suite No. 2 (Bernstein Century) (Audio CD)

I bought this thinking that this recording was a re-issue of Bernstein's famous studio performance of Bolero/La Valse (recorded, I think in 1958 or 59). THAT studio recording (Columbia) surpasses any other orchestration of those two masterworks by anyone, ever.
Needless to say the orchestra for this particular Bernstein rendition was awful in performing both Bolero and La Valse. Some sections of the orchestra are over miked while some other sections are under miked, making Bolero's famous final crescendo
shrill and choppy.
Bernstein said it himself: Bolero is the most abused classical work--perhaps because of the intricate instrumentaion of the work. I'm not a muscian, so I don't know. Anyway, Both Bolero and La Valse--two masterpieces of music not equalled by any other composer-- deserve better treatment than given here by the techinically limited, over/under miked performances given by the French symphony orchestra in this recording.
Get the Columbia/Bernstein version of Bolero-La Valse . It is the standard , model interpretation of those works.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Not Nearly So Bad, February 3, 2003

By 

Michael B. Richman (Portland, Maine USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ravel: Boléro / Alborada del Gracioso / La Valse / Daphnis et Chloé - Suite No. 2 (Bernstein Century) (Audio CD)

This Bernstein Century CD of Ravel's most famous works for orchestra is really not as bad as the previous reviwer indicated in his two reviews. When it comes to Ravel, I would select Munch, Paray or Cluytens before Bernstein, but with that being said this is an excellent disc. I find Bernstein's accounts better than many of his then contemporaries, and that includes readily available performances by Reiner, Szell and Ormandy. The sound, like all of Bernstein's vintage stereo recordings with the New York Philharmonic for CBS/Columbia/Sony, is full and rich. Fans looking for the complete Daphnis Et Chloe will want to pass on this (get the Munch on RCA Living Stereo), but otherwise you should have no reservations in purchasing this title.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good stuff, except for Bolero., October 21, 2008

By 

Peter Hilliard (Roslyn, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ravel: Boléro / Alborada del Gracioso / La Valse / Daphnis et Chloé - Suite No. 2 (Bernstein Century) (Audio CD)

This is very good playing, except for the Bolero, which is sub-standard. There are places in Bolero where the ensemble is out of sync, and where the woodwinds are woefully out-of-tune. You'd think it'd be better, wouldn't you? It seems under-rehearsed and poorly recorded. So don't buy this disk for that. On the other hand, La Valse is as frightening as it should be, Daphnis et Chloe is thrilling, and Alboradora is workmanlike.