Ravel, Maurice (1875 – 1937)

[Roslynmuse]

Ravel's 150th today. What are your favourite works and/or recordings?

I think the first piece of his I heard was the Pavane, in the orchestral version, Suisse Romande and Ansermet on an Ace of Clubs LP of 'Ansermet Favourites'. Next came the Mother Goose Suite - SNO and Alexander Gibson on CfP. And the ear-opening experience of hearing it live with Louis Frémaux and the RLPO in 1980, together with the G major Piano Concerto with Imogen Cooper. That coincided with me learning the Sonatine for piano and the Valse nobles et sentimentales (I've always preferred the piano version to the orchestral one), and then Miroirs and anything else I could get hold of!

Previn in Daphnis et Chloe; Crespin (of course) in Sheherazade; the Ernest Bour recording of L'enfant et les sortileges; the late 80s Glyndebourne recordings of both operas (DVD); a disc of violin chamber music with Chantal Juillet; Samson Francois in the piano music (despite some eccentricities); the EMI box of the complete mélodies (Jessye Norman in Chansons madécasses). Martial Singher in Ronsard a son ame - the list is endless.

[smittims]

I've been 'on' and 'off' Ravel at various times; he's never been a favourite, but when I return to him I always find his music refereshing, even compared with Debussy.

I think my favourite work of his is Daphnis et Chloe. I was fascinated by it after hearing Pierre Boulez conduct it with the BBC S.O. at the 1970 or '71 Proms; I bought a score and the music haunted me . I loved his CBS Lp with the New York Philharmonic when it came out a few years later.

But I think my all-time favourite recording of any Ravel is Ansermet's 1948 recording of Scheherazade with Suzanne Danco and the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra. Her top note at the climax of Asie never fails to thrill me .

I'm also a compulsive repeat listener to Walter Gieseking';s recordings, especially the forlane from le Tombeau da Couperin, a la maniere de Borodine and .Oiseaux tristes.

I regret I've never been able to like his operas. I don't know why not. They just don't hold my attention. Unlike many people , it seems, I do like Bolero . But I really do not like Tzigane. I wish he hadn't written it.

[oliver sudden]

Here’s a definite must: Samson François’s 1947 Scarbo. I don’t know another recording like it. (Of anything!)

https://youtu.be/8hjrE9M57dE?feature=shared

[gurnemanz]

I fondly remember one of my first classical LP purchases on cheapo Saga label as a student late 60s: Boise Trio playing Ravel Trio and Debussy. It grabbed me and I played it often. One of my next purchases which I also enjoyed and played a lot was Leonard Bernstein playing and conducting Ravel and Shostakovich Second Piano Concerto on a CBS LP.
Many acquisitions since have become favourites. To round off: Latest Ravel purchase a couple of weeks ago was a marvellous 2012 Audite reissue of recordings by baritone Barry McDaniel which includes Ravel's Trois Chansons Madécasses from 1966,

[cloughie]

Singling out individual recordings is not easy - too many to single out as most conductors over the years have treated his work with great care and respect, but vocal pieces require the right voice! I think I like all his works except Bolero. Favourite works - I think Daphnis, Mother Goose, Scheherazade and Sonatine. Pavane enfante defunte both in orchestral and piano mode and the PC for LH!
If I could only have 10 composers to chose from - he would be one of them.

[Historian]

I saw Vlado Perlemuter play much of Ravel's solo piano music at the Wigmore Hall in 1987. On the strength of that I bought his Nimbus discs of the same repertoire: they may not be 'definitive', but there's much to enjoy. There is also the direct link to the composer with whom Perlemuter worked in 1927/8 (I think).

So many favourite Ravel works: if pushed I might go for Le tombeau de Couperin for solo piano (although the orchestral version is also wonderful.

[Pulcinella]

Ravel's 150th today. What are your favourite works and/or recordings?
...
.

Impossible to answer, though like smittins I'm not a great fan of Tzigane.

Almost everything else, though: and even more .
What a sound world he could create.

[oliver sudden]

Tzigane is a bit overblown in orchestral form but I quite like it with just a violin and a luthéal, like this:

https://youtu.be/g0lW4yeVQgw?feature=shared

L’Enfant et les Sortilèges is for me one of the most reliable face-moisteners in the repertoire. Especially the squirrel’s solo, strangely enough. And the end, obviously. (And the moment just _after_ the end.)

(L’Heure espagnole I’ve never got into to anything like the same degree.)

[Roger Webb]

Ravel's oeuvre is such a rich treasure chest to be opened and dipped into, that one rarely pulls out randomly any work that doesn't please. My own choice is for the songs and chamber music....for the songs, Don Quichotte à Dulcinée, Chanson Madécasses, Shéhérazade...of course. The chamber works, Introduction et allegro, String Quartet, Piano Trio....oh, and the austerely beautiful Sonata for Violin and Cello grows on me as I get older!

About forty years ago my girlfriend (now my wife) was working at Mantes la Jolie, west of Paris, and I went along for the freebee, amusing myself as I could daytimes, I decided to find Ravel's house not too far away at Montfort-l'Amaury...it required a change of trains and a hitch-hike, but I got there and spent a day wandering about - unfortunately the house was closed that day, but we managed to visit later staying in the little Hotel Les Voyageurs.....magical times!

[Pulcinella]

The Decca Rogé/Juillet recording of Tzigane uses a luthéal.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8050555--ravel-3-sonatas-tzigane-habanera-berceuse-etc

[Nick Armstrong]

….I decided to find Ravel's house not too far away at Montfort-l'Amaury...it required a change of trains and a hitch-hike, but I got there and spent a day wandering about - unfortunately the house was closed that day, but we managed to visit later… magical times!

I had a similar experience in 2017… During a visit not far from Mantes, I had an afternoon free as others were at work, and I made a pilgrimage to Montfort - the house was shut due to a dispute involving the various entities at play in its upkeep, but as I’d given some legal guidance to one of the parties, Les Amis de Maurice Ravel, I was accorded a special unlocking of the front door of Le Belvédère - I was able to ramble on my own through the house and precipitous garden for a couple of hours… It happened to be my birthday too - as you say, magical





As for his works - I love most but I think my top three would be the piano trio, the left-hand concerto and the final scene from L’Enfant et les Sortilèges - which steps of the podium they would occupy depends on the day!

[Roger Webb]

[COLOR=#3300ff]I had a similar experience in 2017… During a visit not far from Mantes, I had an afternoon free as others were at work, and I made a pilgrimage to Montfort - the house was shut due to a dispute involving the various entities at play in its upkeep.........

Lovely pictures Nick.....when we went back and actually gained access to the house, it wasn't easy either. They used to have a rule that the tour would only go ahead if there was a certain number in the party...I think eight people, any less or more and it was cancelled for the day! I remember us making it six, and going in search of another couple, who we persuaded they really wanted to see Ravel's house before the tour could start!

[Serial_Apologist]

Probably my favourite Ravel work has become the Piano Trio, in which I now hear the closest proximities to Vaughan Williams's music of the time, especially the modally inflected triads in the slow movement and VW's Four Hymns for tenor, viola and piano, which were almost contemporaries. The luxuriant harmonies displayed throughout other parts of the work would have a huge influence on John Ireland's subsequent piano works, most especially the Piano Sonata.

[Nick Armstrong]

Lovely pictures Nick.....when we went back and actually gained access to the house, it wasn't easy either. They used to have a rule that the tour would only go ahead if there was a certain number in the party...I think eight people, any less or more and it was cancelled for the day! I remember us making it six, and going in search of another couple, who we persuaded they really wanted to see Ravel's house before the tour could start!

[Pulcinella]

I think L'heure espagnole really needs to be seen in the theatre to get the best out of it (I've seen some excellent productions, all great fun); L'enfant less so, perhaps because the music itself is so evocative.
The Glyndebourne double bill surely ranks very highly.