Search - Ravel, Skrowaczewski, Minnesota Orchestra :: Orchestral Works 2

Ravel Orchestral Works=*****, Piano concerto: **

Gregory M. Zinkl | Chicago, IL | 07/30/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you think you don't like Ravel's orchestral works, and this set doesn't convince you, then it's a hopeless cause. This set is a delight from (almost) beginning to end. The only major disappointment is the piano concerto, which is abysmal, mostly for the awful sound (I can't get past the sound to actually comment on the performance!). Don't buy the set for that. But DO buy it for the rest."

You can do better than this

Classic Music Lover | Maryland, USA | 06/23/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, who conducts most of the works in this set, is not an idiomatic Ravel interpreter -- for that, you need to turn to Jean Martinon, Paul Paray or Charles Dutoit. On top of that, this Vox recording was made only a few years after the Minnesota Orchestra (aka Minneapolis Symphony) had moved into its new Orchestra Hall downtown, and no one had yet figured out how to make a decent recording in the space (far too much reverb ... not a true pianissimo to be heard). Things have gotten better since then -- not just with the recording engineers but also with the additional baffles that have been installed in the auditorium. I'm not sure why SS and Vox elected to record just the two Suites from Daphnis & Chloe -- the complete ballet contains a third again more music, and it really is disingenuous of them to bill this set as the "complete" orchestral music under such circumstances. (Vox pulled the same thing when they first released this set on LP).



Incidentally, the entire Daphnis & Chloe HAS been recorded in Minneapolis before -- and better -- back in the mid-1950s under Antal Dorati ... that recording truly is noteworthy."