Ravel: Complete Works for Orchestra, Vol. 2

Ravel (Composer), Skrowaczewski (Conductor), Minnesota Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Minnesota Orchestra
• Conductor: Skrowaczewski
• Composer: Ravel
• Audio CD (November 4, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Vox (Classical)
• ASIN: B000001K2M
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #251,753 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Landmark Recording and Performance!!, May 10, 2008

By 

J. Poss "Jeff3948" (Pahrump, Nevada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ravel: Complete Works for Orchestra, Vol. 2 (Audio CD)

I respectfully disagree with the reviewer "Classic Music Lover" on almost every point.

These recordings along with Volume 1 of Ravel's orchestral music performed by the Minnesota Orchestra under the baton of Stanislaw Skrowaczewski have become a legend in the audiophile world. They are the best recorded performances of Ravel's music I have ever heard and I have many on CD. The ones with the Minnesota Orchestra were recorded by the famous team of Marc Aubort and the late Joanna Nickrenz who were among the first to use Dolby A Noise reduction (called Dolby s/n stretcher), which for the first time achieved a signal to noise ratio of over 80 db on magnetic tape. These recordings were made in the mid to late 1970's for the Vox/Turnabaout label in the new Minnesota Orchestra Hall. This hall is considered by many to be the most acoustically perfect hall in the world. Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz captured the orchestra and ambient hall beautifully. There is great detail yet the hall reverberation is captured to great and beautiful effect which really enhances the performance.

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski has a way of superbly shaping Ravel's phrases and his performances have a delicate beauty contrasted with loud flamboyant flourishes that are perfect for Ravel music. The result is truly THRILLING in La Valse and Une Barque sur L'Ocean and delicately moving in Le Tombeau de Couperin.

"Classical Music Lover" says there are no pianissimos anywhere. In my opinion that is not true. The differences between pianissimo and forte passages are extreme.

Mobile Fidelity thought well enough of these recordings to re-master some of them onto 2 Super Audio CDs in the true original surround sound!!!! I highly recommend them. GORGEOUS!!
Ravel: Bolero; La Valse; etc. [Hybrid SACD]
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé Suites; Ma Mère l'Oye; Valses nobles et sentimentales [Hybrid SACD]

The recording of the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand with the Luxembourg Radio Orchestra is not as good as the Minnesota orchestra recordings but Abbey Simon's performance is absolutely superb and worth hearing.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ravel Orchestral Works=*****, Piano concerto: **, July 30, 1999

By 

Gregory M. Zinkl (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ravel: Complete Works for Orchestra, Vol. 2 (Audio CD)

If you think you don't like Ravel's orchestral works, and this set doesn't convince you, then it's a hopeless cause. This set is a delight from (almost) beginning to end. The only major disappointment is the piano concerto, which is abysmal, mostly for the awful sound (I can't get past the sound to actually comment on the performance!). Don't buy the set for that. But DO buy it for the rest.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars You can do better than this, June 23, 2007

By 

Classic Music Lover (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ravel: Complete Works for Orchestra, Vol. 2 (Audio CD)

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, who conducts most of the works in this set, is not an idiomatic Ravel interpreter -- for that, you need to turn to Jean Martinon, Paul Paray or Charles Dutoit. On top of that, this Vox recording was made only a few years after the Minnesota Orchestra (aka Minneapolis Symphony) had moved into its new Orchestra Hall downtown, and no one had yet figured out how to make a decent recording in the space (far too much reverb ... not a true pianissimo to be heard). Things have gotten better since then -- not just with the recording engineers but also with the additional baffles that have been installed in the auditorium. I'm not sure why SS and Vox elected to record just the two Suites from Daphnis & Chloe -- the complete ballet contains a third again more music, and it really is disingenuous of them to bill this set as the "complete" orchestral music under such circumstances. (Vox pulled the same thing when they first released this set on LP).

Incidentally, the entire Daphnis & Chloe HAS been recorded in Minneapolis before -- and better -- back in the mid-1950s under Antal Dorati ... that recording truly is noteworthy.