BaL 28.06.14 - Ravel's La Valse

**Pianorak** · 21-06-14, 12:46

Piano 4 Hands
Jean-Philippe Collard, Michel Beroff
Martha Argerich, Alexandre Rabinovitch

**Eine Alpensinfonie** · 21-06-14, 13:28

Originally posted by Pianorak View Post

Piano 4 Hands
Jean-Philippe Collard, Michel Beroff
Martha Argerich, Alexandre Rabinovitch

Thank you. Now added.

**Eine Alpensinfonie** · 21-06-14, 13:37

My first ever recording of La Valse was a Decca Phase 4 LP with the RPO conducted by Monteux (Claude, not Pierre) and this particular piece of engineering deterred me from buying any more recordings on this label. The flute's flutter tongued passages were zoomed forward as though they were the most important thing. Dynamics were compressed to ensure "decent" and impressive sound on a Dansette record player.

**BBMmk2** · 22-06-14, 08:12

I have the Dutoit set of ravel's orchestral music. Also Arthur Pizarro and Marthe Argerich with her Lugano Project. I love this work, I am glad that Ravel named it La Valse.

**Roehre** · 22-06-14, 08:15

After playing La Valse I nearly always take out Mahler 7 and listen to its Scherzo.
For me these two works are interwined, if not thematically, in terms of atmosphere and Angst.

**ferneyhoughgeliebte** · 22-06-14, 08:55

Originally posted by Roehre View Post

After playing La Valse I nearly always take out Mahler 7 and listen to its Scherzo.
For me these two works are interwined, if not thematically, in terms of atmosphere and Angst.

- I think Sondheim recognised this connection, too, when he nicked elements from both pieces in "A Little Priest", the Act One Finale of Sweeney Todd.

**Alison** · 22-06-14, 21:38

BPO/Boulez for me.

I always liked Rattles CBSO version (not listed)

**Tony Halstead** · 22-06-14, 22:00

The 'winner' will have to be the one that most tangibly evokes any one of the famous Edvard Munch's paintings of the 'scream'.

**Petrushka** · 22-06-14, 22:00

Once heard Abbado live with the LSO in Berlin give the most shattering performance of La Valse one could possibly Imagine - and it was an encore!

I don't seem to have many recordings of it probably because it would often mean the purchase of yet another unwanted Bolero.

**Nick Armstrong** · 22-06-14, 22:36

Originally posted by Petrushka View Post

Once heard Abbado live with the LSO in Berlin give the most shattering performance of La Valse one could possibly Imagine - and it was an encore!

I've heard Abbado conduct it, too - I think he 'nailed' the piece like no-one else!

I believe it's in his recording that one hears a bass drum tap through the texture a couple of times in one of the early, quieter passages - you almost feel the impacts rather than hear them - and it always makes me think of those stories of being able to hear in London the biggest guns and mine explosions in WW1... those bass drum taps sound like a distant sign of imminent destruction, before the piece itself has reached its catastrophic later stages.

(There's a similar effect in Elgar's orchestration (1919 - 20) of Bach's Fantasia & Fugue in C minor, BWV 537)

**Eine Alpensinfonie** · 22-06-14, 22:54

Originally posted by Alison View Post

I always liked Rattles CBSO version (not listed)

My wrist is considered slapped, and I duly add it to the list.

**richardfinegold** · 23-06-14, 00:45

Detroit SO with Paul Paray.

**verismissimo** · 23-06-14, 06:52

Can it really be that, after 50 years of collecting and listening, and a deep and abiding love for Ravel's music, I have no recording of La Valse?

**Bryn** · 23-06-14, 07:04

Originally posted by verismissimo View Post

Can it really be that, after 50 years of collecting and listening, and a deep and abiding love for Ravel's music, I have no recording of La Valse?

No. It must be hiding there, unknown, somewhere.

BaL 28.06.14 - Ravel's La Valse

BaL 28.06.14 - Ravel's La Valse

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