
EMI Classics’ release of Jean Martinon and the Orchestre de Paris’ performances of Ravel’s Boléro, complete Daphnis et Chloé, and La Valse, happily, are anything but stale. Available on DVD-A, the disc brings back the original quadrophonic sound of the original recording. Martinon was wise to allow the sensual nature of Boléro to speak and insinuate for itself, never pushing or pulling the orchestra. Part of the charm of Boléro is following Ravel’s insistence that the tempo never change from beginning to end; it doesn’t need to change to evoke sensual imagery because the music itself embodies carnality. Part of the revelation upon listening to this recording is the distinct feeling that yes, THIS is the way Boléro is supposed to be played. The performance has an obviousness about it; that is, Martinon conducts in such a way as to make each succeeding variation of the theme sound logically in its proper place in soundspace and time with regard to every other thematic variation. The fact that a fifteen-minute piece that contains subtly shaded variations never gets boring proves, to this reviewer, the contention that Ravel was a genius of orchestration. This is truly one of the best recordings available of Boléro, topped perhaps, by Charles Munch in a long-ago recording; however, the sound experience is outstanding on Martinon’s version, given the DVD-A treatment.
Daphnis et Chloé, written for ballet, comes across as playful, light, and, by turns, menacing. Ravel scored three scenes from the Greek story (their love, Chloé’s abduction, and her return to Daphnis). The lush, ravishing orchestration is respected by Martinon, whereby the orchestra plays with carefully measured emotion; no grotesque over-the-top playing that deflates the beauty of the music. The fact that the frequency range is expanded on this DVD-A just makes the already exemplary sound and performance even more breathtaking. In the 4.0 multi-channel version, in the second section of Part Two of Daphnis (at 1:28) the basses groan making the listener feel their undulations as much as hear them.
La Valse, too, is well played, and comes across as a drunken, carefree if nihilistic, disturbing reverie as if the image of waltzers evoked by the music are histrionic, hedonistic, and scoffing at inevitable death or loss.
One annoying thing that occurs on this disc and, in fact, all DVD-As I’ve auditioned is the seconds of silence that occur between music tracks or movements that run together without pause. This is likely due to the loading of each menu of every track of music. This isn’t noticeable on DVD-As containing music with discrete tracks where no track seguéing occurs, but in classical music, movements are frequently strung together without pause. On the other hand, this problem does not occur with SACDs. We’re dealing with a technology issue, folks, and this is the only thing that keeps the disc from earning five stars for DVD-A quality.