Search - Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Herbert von Karajan :: Debussy: La Mer; Prélude à L'Apres-midi d'un Faune; Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2; Bolero

Grecian Formula

Sean William Menzies | 08/06/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I got this disc, then rejected it immediately because it sounded as if the Germans were trying to out-conduct the French with their own music, but then I kept returning to listen to it over and over. It is intensely erotic and a very precise reading of all four pieces.



La Mer is a deep Mediterranean sea, dark warm salt water, not just the light shimmering on its surface. Faune is hot and erotic under the searing Grecian sun; one can almost see him stretching and yawning under the dappled shade of the trees, goat feet tapping. Karajan's reading of the Daphnis et Chloe suite No. 2, literally Part III of the complete ballet, is the most dazzling I have ever heard, enough to give you goosebumps. No chorus is used but somehow I don't miss it, for the bird-calls sing triumphantly as the dawn swells over the mountains regardless. Only the Bolero I find merely adequate, but then this piece has been so over played since its premiere, at performances and in film, that it says something about Karajan's recording that it still doesn't bore.



So there it is, this album is intoxicating on a hot August afternoon, as if standing on a cliff overlooking the Aegean while nymphs and satyrs hide secretively in the dark cool woods behind you. Worth the purchase."

Von Karajan doing Debussy and Ravel, are you kidding me? I k

Aceto | Meilhan Sur Garonne | 05/20/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You have to hand it to Deutche Grammophon. They had already put out what many consider the benchmark rendition of 'La Mer". Who could question their beautiful Boulez recording? Well, some few do, even those who love Boulez. OK, you could go with the Bernstein. I love him, but not on that one. Or, leaving DG, there is the redoubtable Dutoit.



But going way back to 1965, von Karajan did his own take. And a crisp, vivid one it is. Not in a Germanic way, but splashing in the surf and not languid. Yet there is tremendous control over the strings to couch the other sections in a way that connects with the guiding spirit. So the percussives and such are the sparkling foam on the sea Debussy intended.



You will be pleased with the sonic quality of this recording, making the rest of the selections worth the ride."

Another of Karajan's surprising talents

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 09/18/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To celebrate Karajan's centenary, DG has been re-releasing some of his most notable recordings with their original LP jackets. Casual observers of Karajan's career -- and those who denigrate it, of course -- would be surprised that Debussy and Ravel count among his best composers. In fact, they do -- witness not just this collection but an astonishingly evocative and sensitive Ravel CD for EMI. What makes Karajan such a superb French conductor isn't just precision and clarity, two virtues we associate with this genre, but his poetic imaginaiton.



Where Boulez is crystalline and sparkling in La Mer, Karajan is romantic and delicate. He expresses the music in long sweeps of feeling, but each bar is full of color and nuance. As familiar as La Mer is, to go beyond mere scene-painting (wind, waves, foam, etc.) is difficult. To my ears, Karajan's interpretation rises to the very top, but you must be able to open your ears to it, since this isn't Munch-Ansermet-Boulez. The other reviewer who used the word 'erotic' isn't far off the mark when it comes to Karajan's Bolero and Daphnis and chloe readings.



Enough said to true believers, and I supose nothing would be enough for naysayrs. The remastered 1965 analog recording sounds gorgeous in its detail and warmth, the Berlinrs play like gods, and Karajan's contorl seems superhuman. But that's what carpers complain aoubt, isn't it (even as they extol Toscanini for the same thing)? So be it. This CD deserves to stand among his classic recordings."