Ravel: L'Enfant et les Sortileges (The Child and the Spells)

Ravel (Artist, Composer), Boulianne (Artist), Despres (Artist), Chicago Symphony Chorus (Artist), Willis (Artist, Conductor), Chattanooga Boys Choir (Artist), Nashville Symphony Chorus (Artist), Nashville Symphony Orchestra (Artist), Gunlogson (Artist), Castagner (Artist), Greenlaw (Artist), Short (Artist), Martel (Artist), Prevost (Artist), Cox (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Conductor: Willis
• Composer: Ravel
• Audio CD (March 31, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B001QUL74Q
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #194,624 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Setting a charming text by Colette, Ravel's richly-scored opera L'Enfant et les sortilèges
(The Child and the Spells) is a lyric fantasy whose cast includes fairy tale characters, crockery,
plants and little animals which come to life to chastise the child who has been tormenting them.
However, all ends happily when the child learns compassion. Ravel's life-long fascination with
the exotic orient found inspiration in three poems by Tristan Klingsor, brought together in his
ravishing and enduringly popular song cycle Shéhérazade.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grammy nomination!, December 7, 2009

By 

CD Maniac (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ravel: L'Enfant et les Sortileges (The Child and the Spells) (Audio CD)

An outstanding recording, and a 2010 Grammy nomination for Classical Recording of the Year. Worth it just for the ravishing voice of Julie Boulianne alone. She sings a sumptuous version of Ravel's song cycle "Sherherazade"--a gorgeous piece of music. The one-act opera is full of marvelously playful music, played by the outstanding Nashville Symphony.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Winning, May 12, 2010

By 

C. Briley (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ravel: L'Enfant et les Sortileges (The Child and the Spells) (Audio CD)

This Grammy nominated disc was originally supposed to be performed and recorded by members of the Nashville Opera Chorus rather than the Chicago & Nashville Symphony Choruses--since the original performances were given by the Nashville Opera Ensemble. However, the day before the recording, that ensemble and two principal artists were cut from the recording...to this day there has been no reason given why. So I am going to try to do this without a shaded view of the Nashville Symphony Organization or the Naxos Label, especially because I know both are outstanding companies.

Julie Boulianne gives a performance of a lifetime on this disc. Her voice possesses a very warm and lush tone that I haven't heard in a mezzo in quite some time. Julie Cox, Agathe Martel, Geneviève Després, Kevin Short, Cassandre Prévost, and Kirsten Gunlogson (all members of the original Nashville Opera performance cast) are among some my most remembered vocalists. These artists make up a wonderful cast of dreamlike scenes and sounds that the most untrained ear will enjoy. The Nashville Symphony Chorus and Chicago Symphony Chorus (having learned the music quite quickly) do a stand up job of the vocals...but I would've like to have heard more character expression from them. The Chattanooga Boys Choir struggles with the French language, as most 6-12 year olds might. The Nashville Symphony is outstanding as always. They are living up to their reputation! The Grammy nomination is well deserved for all parties involved.