Award-winning Ravel
James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Ravel’s complete Daphnis et Chloé, featuring the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor, won the Grammy Award in the category of Orchestral Performance at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards on January 31, 2010.
I am a great admirer of James Levine, and I feel badly that his health has been rather poor in the past few years, which caused him to have to cancel musical performances. This recording of Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloe” is one of the best I’ve heard of recent years. Levine has conducted this ballet twice on record: once with the Vienna Philharmonic on Deutsche Grammophon, and this release on the BSO’s own label.
What a composition this is: Filled with all the colors imaginable, and all sorts of musical excitement. Many other conductors have been inspired to perform this music. Here’s just one: An interpretation by French conductor, Charles Munch:
To hear Charles Munch conduct “Danse generale” from Daphnis et Chloe – Suite No. 2, please click HERE
Finally, here’s the NHK Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy. The concert hall is at the Wiener Musikverein, Large Hall, Vienna, 2005
Tags: Maurice Ravel, Daphnis et Chloe, Charles Munch, Vladimir Ashkenazy