Ravel: Orchestral Works Vol. 2

Maurice Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales present a vivid mixture of atmospheric impressionism, intense expression and modernist wit. His fascination with the waltz is further explored in La Valse, a mysterious evocation of a vanished imperial epoch. Heard here in an orchestration by Marius Constant, Gaspard de la nuit is Ravel’s response to the other-worldly poems of Aloysius Bertrand, and the dance suite Le tombeau de Couperin is a tribute to friends who fell in the war of 1914-18 as well as a great 18th century musical forbear. ‘It is a delightful and assorted collection… presented in splendid performances by the Orchestre National de Lyon led by their music director, the venerable American conductor Leonard Slatkin.’ (Classical.net / Volume 1, 8572887). Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit orchestrated by Marius Constant is rarely recorded, and despite their deserved popularity both the Valses nobles et sentimentales and Le tombeau de Couperin are far more widespread in their solo piano versions.