Ravel + Ozawa + Original Source = An Orgy of Orchestral Fabulousness
Just Announced: Deutsche Grammophon celebrates Ravel’s 150th in the best way possible with this box set of outstanding recordings
From the moment the early releases from the DG Original Source Series of AAA vinyl reissues hit my turntable, and especially after hearing the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique from these same performers (to which I gave a rave review), I have been hoping and hoping that these Ravel recordings would get the Original Source treatment. They were top of my extensive wishlist I sent off to DG.
Wish granted! Here they are: all FOUR classic Ozawa/Boston Symphony recordings - presented in the usual gatefolds within a sturdy, handsome slipcover box, similar to the one used for the Steinberg set a year ago.
Apart from one LP side sourced from a 4-track master, all are sourced from 8-track masters, just like the Karajan/Bruckner cycle. That set was a sonic triumph. This one has the potential to be even better, given the provenance of these recordings. Throughout the Original Source Series, the recordings made in Boston’s Symphony Hall have been amongst the best, either because of microphone placement, hall acoustics, or the unique combination of both. Back in the 1970s, Thomas Mowrey was hired by DG to supervise these state-side recordings in Boston, and he was involved in all these Ravel sessions. He had a really good understanding of the whole “quadraphonic” process, and if you haven’t watched it already, I highly recommend you watch him talk about the process and his role in the first group video discussion we had about the Original Source Series with DG and Emil Berliner Studios, back in the summer of 2022.
This Ravel cycle has always been very highly regarded, and has long remained a jewel in Ozawa’s catalogue. The conductor was in his first decade as Music Director of the Boston Symphony, and the relationship was yielding one fresh and exciting release after another.
Ravel's music is a perfect match for Ozawa's strengths as an interpreter, but the sonics were always something of a compromise because of the manner in which DG mastered and cut its LPs back in the day. On LP, the Daphnis et Chloe, for example, always sounded congested and overwhelmed in its huge orchestral and choral climaxes.
Not any more. Get ready for a serious sonic makeover akin to what we’re seeing in the gorgeously restored Notre Dame.
Maurice Ravel
Ravel was a master orchestrator and, like Rimsky-Korsakov (Scheherazade), is an essential study for any budding composer. His version of Mussorgsky’s epic piano work, Pictures at an Exhibition, is a master class in orchestration, a fact emphasized when you put it alongside any other of the numerous alternative versions by assorted composers and conductors (including Stokowski). Of course, everyone knows Bolero, (which, even if you are sick of it, is the definitive guide to exploiting the different sonorities of the orchestra) but there is so much more to his body of orchestral works. You’ve got the refined delicacy of the Baroque-inflected Le Tombeau de Couperin and the pastiche Valses Nobles et Sentimentales...
... the poignancy of Pavane pour Une Infante Défunte; the glittering travelogue of Rapsodie Espagnole; the playful portraits of childhood fairy tales in Ma Mère L’Oye...
Topping it all is the phantasmagoric ballet of Daphnis et Chloé, complete with choir, composed for Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes...
... and the almost hallucinatory La Valse, a post-WWI bookend to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (1913) - a vision of the collapse of civilization cast as a ballroom nightmare.
Now, I am something of a French orchestral music obsessive, and my shelves are groaning with many fine recordings of Ravel’s and Debussy’s orchestral works from every era (conductors tend to record both composers). There are some really amazing records of the Ravel repertoire, both as interpretations and sonic events.
There’s Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on RCA Living Stereo...
There’s Paul Paray and the Minneapolis Orchestra on Mercury Living Presence...
On EMI you’ve got André Cluytens from the 1950s and 1960s, imbued with that distinctive French orchestral sound of the time...
On EMI again, but this time from the 1970s, you’ve got Jean Martinon’s equally authoritative cycle...
And of course, there’s always the essential mono and stereo recordings of Ernest Ansermet with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande on Decca/London, accounts sprinkled with fairy dust.
Ansermet's mono version of Ravel's ballet, Daphnis et Chloe
Ace of Diamonds Box Set Reissue of Ansermet's Complete Ravel Orchestral Works
In the early digital era, Charles Dutoit’s recordings with another “French” orchestra - the Montreal Symphony - were amongst the very best sonically in the new technology, inheriting the mantle of Ansermet. Their account of the complete ballet Daphnis et Chloe is still my personal benchmark.
Though let's not forget two classic vintage analogue recordings of this masterpiece...
There's a reason why so many of these records are in audiophiles' collections. The music is inviting, exciting, and in the best recordings is a serious workout for any system.
In such a crowded field, why turn to Ozawa and his Boston players? Well, it remains to be seen until the records come in for review, but I have always loved these performances despite the sonic shortcomings, and I am not alone. Ozawa and his orchestra are firing on all cylinders, and if the remastered sonics match (or even come close to) the best of previous Original Source reissues, I think this set is going to be very special indeed.
Pre-orders go live on the DG site on December 13th (with release on March 7th). No doubt the usual US retailers like Acoustic Sounds and Elusive Disc will be offering their own pre-orders shortly.
Naturally, there will be full coverage on this site, either from myself or Michael Johnson. I suspect we will be getting quite competitive over who gets reviewing duties on this one…
BONUS: Rainer Maillard and Sidney C. Meyer at Emil Berliner Studios announce the three winners of test pressings from the OSS raffle... in a rather unique way!
