Customer Reviews

Ravel: Bolero/Daphnis Et Chloé/Debussy:La Mer/Prelude a l'apres-Midi D'un Faune

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

 

 

These performances were originally made in 1965 and 1966, and still sound amazingly good today. The digital remastering enhances what was already very fine sound. This La Mer is even better than Karajan's later account on EMI (which is a shade too hard-driven) and the equal of any other in the catalogue. The combination of sensuousity and discipline, along with practically flawless playing, produced magical results here. It is a real pity that Karajan did not record the entire Daphnis et Chloe ballet, as his Suite No. 2 was also one of the very best. Karlheinz Zoller's solo flute contribution in the Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune is outstanding. The Bolero is also well done. Taken as a whole, this remains a remarkable disc. Strongly recommended.

If you like Karajan, you probably already have this one, or you should. If you don't, well, at least the CD won't smell like a rat. The performances are exquisite and not overly polished like late (a.k.a. digital) Karajan recordings. The La Mer is definitely in the same class as Reiner, Haitink and Boulez. The Daphne suite and Bolero are certainly near the top as well.

I was glad to know that this CD had Karajan's 1966 Bolero, because I especially wanted that--and it is everything that I had heard and hoped it would be. Additionally his La Mer is also wonderful, and instead of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, one gets, on this CD, Debussy's Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune (which I, for one, would rather have) and Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe Suite (which definitely has its charms, notwithstanding the fact that having the complete ballest is seen by me as being perhaps more desirale, if one has to chose betwen them, which one doesn't). I would like to say to people who are afraid that there is something wrong with the range of decibels/volume on Bolero- or any of the other works here (because another reviewer complained of this)--not on my CD player! And, at present (and for the forseeable future), I do NOT have a top notch CD player either--but it does just fine and this recording comes off sounding superlatively good from start to finish--and the sound quality is such that you can hear everything in the kind of detail you should be able to--and that includes ALL of Bolero--without having to change the volume--from the very lowest sounds at the beginning to the very loudest at the end, and it isn't even true that the range of volume on this recording is such that Bolero (or any other work) is unacceptably loud at the end. I think, in particular, that the Bolero is as exciting and even thrilling as account as can be had. La Mer is aslo beautiful, and the other two, an unexpected delight.

This recording of "La Mer" is universally acknowledged as the best ever, even by people who hate Karajan (like me). The rest of the disc is pretty special too...

It was such a dissapointment to get this cd after all the good reviews. The range of this recording is too broad. There are moments when there is barely any sound and then MEGA loud. I have heard other recordings of Bolero that weren't so extreme. I'll keep searching.