Search - Maurice Ravel, Jean Martinon, Paris Orchestra :: Ravel: Orchestral Works

The Ultimate Ravel Orchestral Collection!

goodmusicman | USA | 07/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jean Martinon's celebrated recordings of Ravel's best orchestral works (excluding concertos) featured on this 2-CD set have never been bettered. Martinon captures the luxurious atmosphere of Ravel's colorful orchestrations like no one else, imbuing the works with excitement, detail, and a very "French" sound, helped in no small measure by the excellent Paris Orchestra. Bolero, Rhapsodie Espagnole, La Valse, and especially the complete Mother Goose (as well as all the other works on this set) have never sounded better than in the hands of Martinon and the Paris Orchestra. Especially noteworthy is the excellent recording of the rare Scheherazade Overture, an exotic and colorful work not found in most Ravel collections. The remastered sound quality is superb, masking the fact that these are not digital recordings (thay're stereo recordings from 1974). All of the clarity of the textures which Martinon achieves can be heard vividly in these CDs.

There is much competition in this reportoire, including Monteux, Munch, Boulez, and Dutoit. Only Dutoit features almost all the works on this set. Although Dutoit's recordings are digital, they do not sound much better than Martinon's recordings. Martinon's performances are substantially better, though. Munch is missing too much music, while Monteux does not feature great sound quality. Boulez does have good (digital) sound, but it is not perfect, and its single CD costs $5 more than this 2-CD set even though it's missing so many great works. So for a collector looking for the ultimate set of Ravel's orchestral works, one can do no better than buying this set. At this price, it's also a steal!"