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Whistle Stopper - Maurice Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé / La Valse - Berliner Philharmoniker / Pierre Boulez
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List Price: $16.98
Our Price: $9.50
Your Save: $ 7.48 ( 44% )
Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 2 days
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0028944705720
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon
Release Date: 1995-09-19
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: WIZARDRY: TRY TO IMAGINE OPENING NIGHT
Comment: For years the Charles Munch performance of DAPHNIS was the one to own. It was one of the early miracles of LP vinyl; not merely because of the grealy improved Hi-Fi reproducion technique, but because for the first time you could experience the entire ballet. Suddenly it was't just bautiful; it made sense. The Munch performance is still a great performance (didn't he premier the ballet?) and the Dutoit is excellent, as well. But there is no soubt the Boulez recording is the best, and that, in and of itself is phenomenal considering the high quality of the Munch and the Dutoit recordings.
When I play the Daphnis I don't do anything but listen. All distractoins are put away. This is not "backgrond" music; its foeground music. To me this is one of the handfull of great symphonies of the world. It isn't often thought of as a symphony, though Ravel called it a Choreographic Symphony. Three movements with chorus. Seems unorthodox, but the French symphonies are usually different in some way. Consider the Saint-Saens for Organ for example, or the five movement Berlioz Fantastic Symphony, or the Lalo Symphony on a Mountain Air, or the Cesar Franc: Why not the Martinu symphonies as well? All vividly sensual, emotional, all out-of-the ordinary -- or anti-scholastic though academic exercises, like the Bizet -- and all frequently theatrical.
One can't really comment on Boulez's work coherently if one is a layman, because, face it, you have to be at near genius-level even to read the score. This incredible music begins at the highest level of virtuosity for all the instruments in the orchestra. All I can say is that Pierre does his "disappearing act" before us, and in a rush of wind machine sound offers us this music for a great Diaghalev ballet, written expressly for Nijinski's dancing, and played or performed before astonishing scenery by the great Baxt. Now, enter Ravel, the Wizard!
None of that pre-WW I magic exists for us today, though if you are new to it you might see what you can find in your local College Library, picture section. Vanished world... And then, finally, switch off anything that might distract you and put the diskette in the player. Open your set carefully: This recording is daring because Boulez accepted that articulation of volume range was and is an integral part of Ravel's compositional method, and therefore the recording level wasn't determined in the engineer's booth. Previously the ends (highs and lows) of musical performances were trimmd by engineers so that the result in playback sounded like something you got out of a large, expensive RCA or Zenith or Magnavox radio-phonograph, in a large, expensively and comfortably furnished living room. O, That beautiful bourgeois sound! Instead, with this recording it was decided to produce as closely as digital media allowed, the sound he, Boulez heard while he directed the work in a symphonic hall. Which would be about what you heard in the first or second row of the audience. (This is a kind of re-creation of the approach Mercuy Records took when it chose to record some of the best pieces of the Chicago Symphony when Rafael Kublik led it: They decided not to record in a studio, but in Orchestra Hall itself. A single Telefunken microphone was hung directly over the conductor's head and the material was recorded without cuts or edits. The results were phenomenal and set the standard for symphonic recordings on vinyl. The performances are still available, and better than most.) So, play the first quiet notes just to gage the sound and set levels. Woodwinds fluttering quietly is what you should hear. So, start it again, lie down on the floor -- which is what I usually do -- and with your mind, just watch the music unfold... A morning breeze stirs the vegetabion, gently blowing sand from the shore; the birds wake as the first rays of sunlight fall on you as you rise and look out over the Agean sea. The world is new, pristine. A small band of young people appear, laughing and playing; lightly dressed or nearly naked. Innocent, they look as though they've only just leapt off a frieze. Tritons blow their conchs. The ancient story begins.
This is what the modern symphony orchestra is for, and modern recording. If you're at all like me you'll find that when the music finishes you won't be able to listen to any other music for a while. Some hours? Maybe a day. To me, everything else sounds second-rate, so I take time to decompress.
Some scholars have told us that the most important and influential music of the first half of the 20th cenury was Stravinski's RITE OF SPRING, and others say the second half belongs to Bartok's CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA. They may be right. I don't dispute it. But, I prefer to think that the century's artistic glory ought to be measured in thirds, and that between the Neo-Cubist Primitivism of Le Sacre and the courageous Hungrian Anti-Soviet, anti-bombastic ridicule of Bartok's, there stands like a fulcrum of sane civility, Ravel's declaration in music of our human need for and fervent love of Nature.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Daphnis et Chloé Open and Laid Bare
Comment: This morning was my first hearing of this recording. As "advertised" by a well-worn reputation, here is a clinically precise and scrupulously detailed rendering of this sprawling score (Daphnis) seemingly devoid of any spontaneity -- but the orchestra sure sounds nice! And after hearing this La Valse, one would be hard-pressed to justify its title, though the performance may be genuine to Ravel's putative purpose as a statement on the early 20th century unraveling of old European mores. Though I'm certain Boulez's approach to these works has its adherents, I'd be hesitant to recommend this recording to a sheer novice as an introduction. The strict audiophile will probably love it, however, for its incredibly wide dynamic range.
I remember this being dubbed somewhere as "a Daphnis et Chloé for the 21st Century". Well, at least it doesn't contribute to global warming.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A marvel, but does Ravel need to be this chilly?
Comment: Before Boulez applied his x-ray touch to Ravel in the early Sixties, the composer's music was in danger of seeming glib, slinky, and luxuriant. Boulez rode to the rescue with a eprformance style that dazzled through absolute clarity and precision, turning hothouse orcheds into cut glass. Ever since, his Ravel has earned more dowtows than the Mikado.
And yet I wonder. When I listen to the honest, emotionally direct readings given by Monteux -- he, too, made a specialty of Ravel -- I come away moved, while the chilliness of Boulez's approach doesn't move me at all. Here he has the Berlin Phil. at his disposal, so we get the utmost in technical command without necessarily much sensuous warmth. As every other reviewer says, this is superior music-making. However, the reading of La Valse isn't satiric, suave, sneaky, or seductive. It's steely all the way, as if robots and not ghosts have invaded the ballroom.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Vibrant Ballet Music
Comment: The French impressionist composer, Maurice Ravel, did enjoy writing for the medium of dance. His Spanish influenced works exemplify that. This CD includes two works written for the Ballet Russe: the complete ballet of Daphnis et Chloe and the single movement La Valse.
Daphnis and Chloe is a love story surrounded by Greek mythology. Set in three parts (totaling about 57 minutes), the first part deals with the meeting and courtship of the couple. Eventually, there is a dance-off between Chloe's two suitors, a vile peasant, and the charming Daphnis. A humorous episode shows the farmer dance and the crowd laughing him off the stage. In time, a band of pirates invade and capture Chloe, ending Part One. Part Two takes place at the pirate camp, where a rugged and rollicking dance introduces the pirates. Chloe is forced to dance for the pirate king; she pleads to be let go. After Daphnis prays to the God Pan, Pan and his creatures set upon the pirate camp and the couple reunite to begin Part Three. The last section retells the lengthy story of Pan and Syrinx, and all ends in jubilation. The music is Ravel at his most impressionistic, but also showing his vivid orchestral writing. There is such dramatic and Romantic sweep to the music; lush string and wind writing, exciting and varied dances, and creative themes and colors. Much of the music is also virtuosic, with exceptional writing for flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. An air of mysticism is also added by including wordless chorus throughout the work, and a few exciting moments which include a wind-machine. The love story is amply told with Ravel's lush and vivid colors, as well as an interesting story line.
The ballet is coupled with La Valse, subtitled Poeme choreographique. It is a sort of nightmarish, grotesque Viennese Waltz. The beginning is filled with low tessitura sounds, and the music rises and falls until the end, when the waltz is thrown in your face. Much like other works of Ravel's impressionism, the colors are vivid, not fuzzy, and perhaps in this case, a bit expressionistic and dark. It is a great ride and a unique work.
Pierre Boulez is a consummate master of Claude Debussy interpretations, and it helps him in this disk. Boulez makes the ballet shimmer, always following very closely to the score, observing all of Ravel's tempo, dynamic, and articulation markings to a "T". The Berlin Philharmonic surprisingly tackles this French music with much gusto. They have a fullness and weight that is required from the music and gives the music a deep sheen. This is aided by DG's 4-dimension recording, giving the ensemble warmth and remarkable unity and ensemble. I do not suggest this CD as a starting point of experiencing Ravel; but it certainly has its high merits and great for any fan of Ravel. Beautiful and ravishing music. TT: 70:46
Customer Rating:
Summary: Complete "Daphnis", And Completely Brilliant
Comment: Having had such success in their interpretations of five of Maurice Ravel's best-loved pieces, including "Bolero", in 1993, conductor Pierre Boulez came back to lead Karajan's Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra the following year with this brilliant recording of the composer's so-called "choreographic poem" "Daphnis And Chloe."
But instead of breaking it up into the two suites as had long been custom to do, Boulez decided to do the whole thing unabridged in all its powerful and even sensual glory. The result is perhaps the single greatest complete recording of this massive 57 minute-long work, complete with Ravel's vivid orchestral colours, wind machine, and a wordless chorus (this one being the Berlin Radio Chorus). As in their previous Ravel sojourn, Boulez and the Berlin Philharmonic bring Ravel's musical vision to life with extreme brilliance. Their performance of "La Valse", Ravel's masterful 20th century tribute to the waltz form laid down by Vienna's Strauss dynasty, to conclude the recording is also top-notch.
Boulez is still considered something of a controversial conductor in some quarters despite having been associated with many of the world's greatest orchestras for decades now, but recordings like these also ensure that he is one of the best there is around, particularly with respect to the 20th century repertoire.
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Editorial Reviews:
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There may be sexier complete D&Cs on disc, but few are as well recorded, clearly balanced, expertly paced, and shaded with the suppleness that Boulez and the Berlin Philharmonic bring to this rendition of Ravel's sumptuous ballet. If that's not enough, Boulez's dazzling La Valse caps things off with a bang. --Jed Distler
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