Monteux in Ravel

[Barbirollians]

I have long had and cherished his complete Daphnis and Chloe but picked up in a charity shop a Philips 50 Great Recordings disc of other works . The Mother Goose strikes me as outstanding. I have always thought this pretty and lightweight stuff but Monteux makes it sound utterly magical . I have had to play it again immediately afterwards.

Highly recommended .

[mathias broucek]

I have long had and cherished his complete Daphnis and Chloe but picked up in a charity shop a Philips 50 Great Recordings disc of other works . The Mother Goose strikes me as outstanding. I have always thought this pretty and lightweight stuff but Monteux makes it sound utterly magical . I have had to play it again immediately afterwards.

Highly recommended .

I've got the LP - outstanding stuff!

[PJPJ]

I've got the LP - outstanding stuff!

Soon to be re-released on BD Audio

[johnb]

A few years ago I bought a Decca mini-box of Monteux's recordings (including Daphnis and Mother Goose) and they are wonderful.

Somehow, the way he controls the climaxes (which have a tremendous impact) and the way he allows the music to breath struck me as remarkable.

[Later edit] I've remembered that the Ravel D&C was not in the mini-box so I bought it separately.

[Barbirollians]

A few years ago I bought a Decca mini-box of Monteux's recordings (including Daphnis and Mother Goose) and they are wonderful.

Somehow, the way he controls the climaxes (which have a tremendous impact) and the way he allows the music to breath struck me as remarkable.

I agree yet there is no the slightest hint of calculation about it . I grew up so to speak with the very good Decca Dutoit recordings in Ravel but Monteux seems to have an extra dimension especially in the ballets.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I agree yet there is no the slightest hint of calculation about it . I grew up so to speak with the very good Decca Dutoit recordings in Ravel but Monteux seems to have an extra dimension especially in the ballets.

[richardfinegold]

I have long had and cherished his complete Daphnis and Chloe but picked up in a charity shop a Philips 50 Great Recordings disc of other works . The Mother Goose strikes me as outstanding. I have always thought this pretty and lightweight stuff but Monteux makes it sound utterly magical . I have had to play it again immediately afterwards.

Highly recommended .

Other great Mother Gooses (Mother Geese?) are Martinon with the CSO and Paul Paray with the Detroit SO

[cloughie]

Other great Mother Gooses (Mother Geese?) are Martinon with the CSO and Paul Paray with the Detroit SO

They are excellent but I think they are recordings of the Suite only but the OP Martinon is a very good complete ballet as is the Boulez DG recording. I agree that Monteux is probably the one to beat.

[Ferretfancy]

I saw the great man conduct Daphnis with the LSO at the Royal Festival Hall, and it remains a great memory for me. If like me you love his music making, please try to hear anotherLSO recording with him, Debussy's Images. John Culshaw once said that recording Elgar's Enigma Variations with Monteux was one of the greatest pleasures of his career.

[Pabmusic]

I have long had and cherished his complete Daphnis and Chloe but picked up in a charity shop a Philips 50 Great Recordings disc of other works . The Mother Goose strikes me as outstanding. I have always thought this pretty and lightweight stuff but Monteux makes it sound utterly magical . I have had to play it again immediately afterwards.

Highly recommended .

I agree wholeheartedly.

But I'm puzzled why anything based on tales from Mother Goose should be anything but 'lightweight' (compared, say, to The Rite of Spring or Bluebeard's Castle). I'd never have said Ravel's ballet was vacuous or anything like it - just very lovely music.

[Ferretfancy]

They are excellent but I think they are recordings of the Suite only but the OP Martinon is a very good complete ballet as is the Boulez DG recording. I agree that Monteux is probably the one to beat.

I do think hat Mother Goose really needs to be heard complete, rather than as a suite, in the same way that the Firebird does.

[cloughie]

I do think hat Mother Goose really needs to be heard complete, rather than as a suite, in the same way that the Firebird does.

I agree Ferret, nor does it need an orchestra - the piano version (of the suite) is charming, as is the electronic Tomita version. There are however some lovely bits which are only in the complete ballet, as is the case with Firebird. I suppose it also how much of a listening window you have in your day.

[Barbirollians]

The Monteux recording is , of course, of the complete ballet.

[PJPJ]

I do think hat Mother Goose really needs to be heard complete, rather than as a suite, in the same way that the Firebird does.

I prefer the complete works, too, and I'd include Daphnis and Chloe with those; I've not come to terms with the suites.

[Bryn]

I do think hat Mother Goose really needs to be heard complete, rather than as a suite, in the same way that the Firebird does.

The piano suite came first, of course, the orchestration and expansion into a ballet a year or so later. Some 'purists' thus insist upon the suite. I am happy to hear all three versions, the piano suite, the complete ballet and the orchestral suite, but less so the last.