Ravel : Orchestral Works - Saint-Saëns : Organ Symphony

Album review

Ludovic Morlot has wasted little time in recording with the Seattle Symphony, following his appointment as music director with a handful of CDs on the orchestra's own label. Recorded in September 2013, the concert performances of Maurice Ravel's Alborada del gracioso, the Pavane pour une infante défunte, and the Rapsodie espagnole are balanced with a June 2013 live recording of Camille Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3 in C minor, "Organ," which makes this album an impressive showcase for French music. The Alborada del gracioso is Ravel's spectacular arrangement of the piano piece by the same name (No. 4 of the set entitled Miroirs), and it shows his masterful orchestration as well as his love of Spanish-tinged exoticism. This penchant is displayed more fully in the Rapsodie espagnole, a work in four movements that was Ravel's most ambitious attempt to capture the colors and expressions of Spanish music in his own impressionistic style. The popular Pavane is a graceful and melancholy dance in an antique style, evoking the celebrated portraits of the Infanta Margarita by Velásquez. Saint-Saën's Symphony No. 3 is Romantic work in the Lisztian mold, highlighting the virtuosic abilities of the orchestra and adding the colors of the organ and two pianos to make the work even more dazzling. All of these performance show the Seattle Symphony in fine form, playing with high energy and precision, and the recordings are remarkably rich and vibrant, thanks to the label's expert engineering.
© TiVo

Details of original recording : Recorded live in concert at the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, Washington, on September 19–21, 2013 (Ravel), and June 27–30, 2013 (Saint-Saëns)