MAURICE RAVEL II
Fanfare / Menuet antique / Shéhérazade / Don Quichotte à Dulcinée / Trois poèmes de Mallarmé / Valses nobles et sentimentales
LA-OBC-009 | CD + HD WAV STEREO | RELEASE DATE: 31 JANUARY 2025
The Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC) and Music Director Ludovic Morlot – renowned specialist in French repertoire with four Grammy awards – release the complete orchestral works of Maurice Ravel in six CDs between April 2024 and December 2026. The first volume of the collection, recorded at the Pau Casals Hall of L’Auditori with Mike George and Stephen Rinker – producer and sound engineer of the BBC and Chandos label – includes six works by the composer from Ciboure (French Basque Country).
Ludovic Morlot’s precision and control of orchestral color give these recordings great transparency, with meticulously balanced sound and expressiveness that showcase the OBC’s poetic capacity. Additionally, the collection features the editorial revision of the complete orchestral works of the French composer: the Ravel Edition, a project that brings together artists such as Bertrand Chamayou, Renaud Capuçon, François-Xavier Roth, Ludovic Morlot, George Benjamin, Kirill Karabits, or Cristian Măcelaru, among others.
PRESS
“Une rigueur et une expressivité, une volubilité dynamique et une appétence coloriste
qui font rutiler les chatoyants sortilèges ravéliens”…
LE MONDE
“Selten klangen Ravels hochartifizielle, „künstliche“ Paradiese so märchenhaft verzaubert und so feinstofflich orchestral aufgefächert wie hier”…
RONDO MAGAZIN
“À chaque époque ses références, nul doute que celle s’inscrira dans le paysage discographique de notre temps”…
CRESCENDO MAGAZINE
“Morlot lleva a la orquesta a espléndidos momentos. El primero de una serie prometedora”…
REVISTA SCHERZO
“Morlot balances textures smartly throughout”…
GRAMOPHONE magazine
MAURICE RAVEL II
Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and Ludovic Morlot, its chief conductor, continue their recording adventure exploring the entire body of Maurice Ravel’s (1875-1937) orchestral works – with some added treats and the complicity of mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron and baritone Alejandro Duhamel in the solos of three important song cycles. Scheherazade was written in the early 20th century based on poems by the poet pompously nicknamed Tristan Klingsor – pen name of the versatile Léon Leclère, and under the influence of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, especially in the syllabic treatment of the voice. It is made up of three evocative songs of sublime beauty, and endowed with a magically atmospheric, fine and richly sophisticated instrumentation. Nor could it be otherwise, knowing its composer, one of the greatest orchestrators of all time who is also well known for being an admirer of the brilliant and colourful work of Rimsky-Korsakov, composer of another famous work of the same name. The first song, the panoramic oriental fantasy “Asie”, is the longest and most contrastive of the cycle. This is followed by the enchantingly modal “La flûte enchantée”, filled with a delicate breath of melancholy, and finally “L’indifférent”, with an eminently more vertical orchestral part, with clean and regular chords, which is the piece in which Debussy’s influence is perhaps the clearest.
Don Quichotte à Dulcinée is also a collection of three songs, in this case for baritone and classical orchestra (with harp) based on elegant and concise poems by the politically controversial Paul Morand. Composed in the last decade of the composer’s life, it was commissioned to become the music for a film, but was never used. The work is a series of sung dances with a Spanish flavour, an austere feel – an adjective which, speaking of Ravel’s sound universe, can also be considered a little odd – and a stern but calm intensity in tribute to Cervantes’s tragicomic hero. The “Chanson romanesque” is a guajira, with the alternation of 6/8 and 3/4 time signatures that Ravel had already used in other works; the “Chanson èpique” is a Basque zortico – the composer’s roots should not be forgotten here – and the “Chanson à boire”, a brilliant Aragonese jota.
Trois poèmes by Stéphane Mallarmé, for voice, two flutes, two clarinets, piano and strings, is a brief jewel of visionary sonorous imagination. They were written between April and August 1913, and in order to understand them better, it is worth remembering that a year earlier Arnold Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire had seen the light of day. Of the author of the poems, in a New York Times interview with Olin Downes in 1929, Ravel said: “I consider Mallarmé not only the greatest French poet, but the only one”. The first song opens with ethereal and undulating harmonics in strings bariolage, that gives way, as in a diptych, to a second section of sweeping harmonies in homophony with a short coda in which fragments of the initial texture resound again, miraculously suspended in the air. The second song, “Placet futile”, is a little more expressive, with an iridescent piano-dominated section right in the middle. In “Surgi de la croupe et du bond”, the sound field opens up – the first flute takes the piccolo and the second clarinet the bass clarinet – and a darker, more mysterious, carefully dissonant character emerges. The dedications to each of the pieces should not be forgotten: to Igor Stravinsky, composer of a contemporary Trois poésies de la lyrique japonaise with the same instrumentation; and to Florent Schmitt and Erik Satie, respectively.
As for purely instrumental music, there are three other pieces. The Menuet antique – written for piano and premièred by Ricard Viñes in 1895, and orchestrated by Ravel himself in 1929, a year after the composition of the Boléro –which, despite being an early piece and still indebted to a certain past style with an academicist air – as far as the basic material is concerned – already reveals a taste for the paradoxically diaphanous density of the musical and harmonic structures. The orchestration is a prodigy of chromatic subtleties. The “Fanfare” that Ravel wrote in 1927 as a prelude to the collaborative ballet L’éventail de Jeanne – in which Ferroud, Ibert, Manuel, Delannoy, Roussel, Milhaud, Poulenc, Auric and Schmitt also participated – is a very short piece of just 29 bars, but full to the brim with fantasy that with dotted and martial triple chopped rhythms, moves through all the instrumental families until it arrives at an abrupt tam-tam beat. And finally, another work that was also originally written for the piano: the eight Valses nobles et sentimentales, written in 1911 and orchestrated the following year, conceived in tribute to Schubert and his two compilations of Valsos nobles D 969 and Valsos sentimentales D 779. It is a brilliant and chamante work that already points towards one of the great masterpieces, not only of our composer, but of 20th century, which shortly afterwards would take a definitive form: La valse.
Joan Magrané Figuera
LUDOVIC MORLOT
Morlot’s élan, elegance and intensity on stage have endeared him to audiences and orchestras worldwide, from the Berlin Philharmonic to the Boston Symphony. During his 8 years as Music Director of the Seattle Symphony he pushed the boundaries of traditional concert programming, winning several Grammys.
He is now Conductor Emeritus in Seattle, and in 2019 he was appointed Associate Artist of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra with whom he has had a close relationship over many years; he returns to both orchestras every season. He was Artistic Director and a founding member of the National Youth Orchestra of China 2017-2021. Morlot has conducted the Berliner Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Czech Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, London Philharmonic and Budapest Festival orchestras, and many of the leading North American orchestras, notably the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago and Boston Symphony Orchestras. Morlot has a particularly strong connection with Boston, having been the Seiji Ozawa Fellowship Conductor at Tanglewood and subsequently appointed assistant conductor for the Boston Symphony. Since then he has conducted the orchestra in subscription concerts in Boston, at Tanglewood and on a tour to the west coast of America. He has also appeared extensively in Asia and Australasia, notably with the Seoul Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras. Festival appearances have included the BBC Proms, Wien Modern, Edinburgh, and Aspen festivals.
His tenure in Seattle formed a hugely significant period in the musical journey of the orchestra. His innovative programming encompassed not only his choice of repertoire, but theatrical productions and performances outside the traditional concert hall space. There were numerous collaborations with musicians from different genres, commissions and world premieres. Some of these projects, including John Luther Adams’ Become Ocean, Aaron Jay Kernis’ Violin Concerto performed by James Ehnes and an exploration of Dutilleux’s music, have earned the orchestra five Grammy Awards, as well as the distinction of being named Gramophone’s 2018 Orchestra of the Year. Morlot has released 19 recordings with the Seattle Symphony Media label which was launched in 2014.
Trained as a violinist, he studied conducting at the Pierre Monteux School (USA) with Charles Bruck and Michael Jinbo. He continued his education in London at the Royal Academy and then at the Royal College as recipient of the Norman del Mar Conducting Fellowship. Ludovic is Affiliate Professor at the University of Washington School of Music in Seattle and a Visiting Artist at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2014 in recognition of his significant contribution to music.
FLEUR BARRON
Hailed as “a knockout performer” by The Times, Singaporean-British mezzo Fleur Barron recently triumphed at the San Francisco Symphony in the title role of Kaija Saariaho’s opera Adriana Mater in a production helmed by Peter Sellars and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival as Ottavia in Monterverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea. She is a current Rising Star of Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and an Artistic Partner of the Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias in Oviedo, for which she will curate/perform multiple projects across several seasons. A passionate interpreter of opera, chamber music, and concert works ranging from the baroque to the contemporary, Fleur is mentored by Barbara Hannigan.
Fleur launches the 23/24 season with a return to the London Symphony Orchestra, where she is the soloist in their Season Opening Concert at the Barbican, performing Claude Vivier’s Wo bist du Licht, and in performances of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella the following week, both under the baton of Barbara Hannigan. Autumn 2023 sees the release on Pentatone Records of her performance in the title role in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with La Nuova Musica, and she also begins a multi-season partnership with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and conductor Ludovic Morlot, joining them to record Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Trois Poèmes de Mallarmé, and for performances of Shéhérazade and Montsalvatge’s Cinco Canciones Negras at L’Auditori Barcelona and on tour to Hamburg and Stockholm. Further orchestral engagements include Mahler’s Symphony no.3 with the Czech Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov at the Baden Baden Festival, both Das Lied von der Erde and Mahler Symphony no.2 with Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias under Nuno Coehlo, and Freya Waley-Cohen’s Spell Book with the Manchester Collective at the Barbican.
Alexandre Duhamel
Nominated for “Révélation lyrique de l’année” at the Victoires de la Musique Classique, baritone Alexandre Duhamel is one of the most remarkable French singers of his generation. A graduate of the Paris National Conservatoire and the Opéra de Paris Young Artist Programme, he has received prestigious awards such as «Le Prix Lyrique du Cercle Carpeaux» and «Le Prix de l’Association pour le rayonnement de l’Opéra National de Paris». Early in his career, he collaborated with renowned conductors including Michel Plasson, Sir Antonio Pappano, Marc Minkowski, and Philippe Jordan.
He made his Opéra National de Paris debut in Gianni Schicchi and has since returned for L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, La Fanciulla del West, Don Giovanni, Platée and Les Indes Galantes. Recent engagements include Marcello (La Bohème) at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Lescaut (Manon) at the Liceu, Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande) at Opéra de Lille, and Alberich (Siegfried) at Stuttgart Staatsoper. He has also performed leading roles at Teatro alla Scala, the Salzburg Festival, Tokyo Opera City, Grand Théâtre de Genève, and Glyndebourne Festival.
In concert, he has sung with the Seattle Symphony, BBC Proms, and the Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, performing works by Ravel, Fauré, Berlioz, and Beethoven. His discography includes Pelléas et Mélisande (Harmonia Mundi, Alpha Records) and L’Heure Espagnole with Stéphane Denève. Upcoming projects include recordings of La Sorcière by Erlanger and Don Quichotte à Dulcinée with Ludovic Morlot and the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra.
FLEUR BARRON, ALEXANDRE DUHAMEL
OBC BARCELONA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
First violins: Vlad Stanculeasa, Jaha Lee, Raúl García, Pedro Rodríguez, Walter Ebenberger, Ana Galán, Katia Novell, María Pilar Pérez, Anca Ratiu, Jordi Salicrú, Ana Kovacevic, Laura Pastor, Aria Trigas, Yulia Tsuranova / Second violins: Ivan Percevic, Emil Bolozan, Maria José Aznar, Maria José Balaguer, Patricia Bronisz, Clàudia Farrés, Melita Murgea, Josep Maria Plana, Robert Tomàs, Andrea Duca, Francesc Puche, Marina Surnacheva / Violas: Aine Suzuki, Josephine Fitzpatrick, Christine de Lacoste, David Derrico, Sophie Lasnet, Miquel Serrahima, Andreas Süssmayr, Adrià Trulls, Irene Argüello, Bernat Bofarull / Cellos: Charles-Antoine Archambault, José Mor, Lourdes Duñó, Vincent Ellegiers, Marc Galobardes, Irene Cervera, Carla Conangla, Joan Rochet / Double basses: Christoph Rahn, Dmitry Smyshlyaev, Jonathan Camps, Apostol Kosev, Albert Prat, Anna Cristina Grau / Flutes: Francisco López, Ricardo Borrull (piccolo) / Oboes: Rafael Muñoz, Pau Roca (cor anglais) / Clarinets: Pedro Franco, Francesc Navarro / Basoons: Silvia Coricelli, Noé Cantú, Slawomir Krysmalski (contrabassoon) / French horns: Juan Manuel Gómez, Pablo Marzal / Trumpet: Mireia Farrés / Timpani: Joan Marc Pino / Percussion: Juan Francisco Ruiz, Ignasi Vila, José Luis Carreres / Harp: Magdalena Barrera / Celesta: Gregori Ferrer / Librarian: Begoña Pérez / Technical Coordinator: Ignasi Valero / Stage Manager: Luis Hernández / Planning Director: Joan Cortés
Recording Producer: Mike George / Sound engineer: Stephen Rinker / Sound assistance: Toni Vila, Oriol Baulenas, Alejandro Parra / Graphic art direction: Lorena Noblom / Photography: May Zircus / Editorial direction: Santi Barguñó
Album recorded in December 2023 at Sala Pau Casals, L’Auditori de Barcelona.
The recording of the Ravel project has been made using the revised scores from the Ravel Edition raveledition.com
With funding from the Ministry of Culture, within the framework of the Cultural Capital of Barcelona promoted by the Ministry of Culture and Barcelona City Council and the support of the Ramon Llull Institute:
