The Music Pages | November 2008


	Cat. No.: 442 8321 Barcode: 0028944283211 Label: Decca Eloquence 2CD Release Date: November			Ernest Ansermet \| RAVEL: Orchestral works (the early recordings) ARTISTS L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Ernest Ansermet TRACK LISTING RAVEL: Rapsodie espagnole Alborada del gracioso Pavane pour une infante défunte Valses nobles et sentimentales Ma mere l’oye Daphnis et Chloé Le Tombeau de Couperin Recorded between October 1951 and June 1953, these mono recordings have been much prized and sought-after by collectors and now reappear on CD at super-budget price. Ravel and Ansermet were well acquainted and that adds a special authenticity to these sublime readings. Presenting the majority of Ravel’s orchestral music (Boléro and La Valse appear on another Ansermet Ravel anthology). His 1952 reading of Daphnis et Chloé, highly praised in a recent Gramophone survey of the work, once again becomes available. Ansermet biographer François Hudry contributes to the liner notes for this release. In his words: ‘[Ansermet] had a real affinity with Ravel, and his performances have the value of authentic interpretations. Listening to these beautiful mono recordings allows us to appreciate Ansermet’s special sound: of course, there is his concern for clarity and rhythmic impulse, but also those qualities which he always thought to lack; tenderness and a sense of poetry, as if his intellectual approach should have been at the expense of his artistic sensitivity. These recordings, unobtainable for several years, show us Ansermet in the prime of life, conducting an orchestra built for French music; here the timbres, acid and emotional at the same time, are in perfect harmony with Ravel’s musical language. […]. Ansermet never forgot that this music was written for dance. His interpretations are not flashy: on the contrary, they are full of intelligence, respect and sensitivity to the score. RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 480 0070 Barcode: 0028948000708 Label: Decca Eloquence CD Release Date: November			Ernest Ansermet; Ruggiero Ricci; Jacqueline Blanchard RAVEL: Tzigane; Piano Concertos ARTISTS Ruggiero Ricci, violin Jacqueline Blancard, piano L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Ernest Ansermet TRACK LISTING RAVEL: Tzigane Piano Concerto for the Left Hand Piano Concerto in G This release brings together Ansermet’s complete Ravel concerto / concertante recordings, with the first international release on CD of Swiss pianist Jacqueline Blancard’s aristocratic readings of the two Piano Concertos and Ruggiero Ricci’s dare-devilry in the Tzigane. RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 480 0124 Barcode: 0028948001248 Label: Decca 2CD Release Date: November			Ernest Ansermet; Suzanne Danco RAVEL: L'enfant et les sortilegès;Sheherazade; Deux mélodies hébraiques; Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé; L'heure espagnole; Bolero; La Valse ARTISTS Suzanne Danco, soprano & other soloists L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Paris Conservatoire Orchestra* Ernest Ansermet TRACK LISTING RAVEL L'enfant et les sortilegèges L'heure espagnole Shéhérazade Deux mélodies hébraiques Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé Boléro* La Valse* Fascinated by children, Ravel composed two one-act operas, L’enfant et les sortilèges and L’Heure espagnole. These priceless Ansermet recordings now return to the catalogue, coupled with the rare and much-requested disc of Ravel vocal works with Danco and Ansermet. As a coupling we have the Paris Conservatoire recordings of Boléro (the stereo version making its first ever appearance in any recording format) and La Valse. RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 480 0027 Barcode: 0028948000272 Label: Decca 2CD Release Date: November			Ernest Ansermet BACH: Orchestral Suites Nos. 2 & 3; 2 Sinfonias; Cantatas, BWV 130, 67, 45, 101 & 105 ARTISTS Elly Ameling, Agnes Giebel, sopranos Helen Watts, alto Werner Krenn, Ian Partridge, tenors Tom Krause, baritone Choeur Pro Arte de Lausanne Choeur de la Radio Suisse Romande L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Ernest Ansermet TRACK LISTING J.S. BACH: Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067 Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068 Cantata No. 130 ‘Herr Gott, dich loben wir’ BWV 130 Cantata No. 67 ‘Halt im Gedächtnis Jesum Christ’ BWV 67 Cantata No. 31 ‘Der Himmel lacht, die Erde jubilieret, BWV31 – Sinfonia Cantata No. 12 ‘Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen’, BWV12 – Sinfonia Cantata No. 105 ‘Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht’ BWV 105 Cantata No. 45 ‘Es ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist’ BWV 45 Cantata No. 101 ‘Nimm von uns, Herr du treuer Gott’ BWV101 (excerpts) Bach’s music featured early in Ansermet’s career and he conducted the fourth Orchestral Suite in his last concert. Playing Bach in the 1960s was not quite the affair it is today, but it would be false to assume that Ansermet’s Bach is the bloated, romanticised affair that was current in the 1960s. While his readings have soul, Ansermet keeps his feet firmly planted in the Baroque period, eschewing beauty of sound for beauty’s sake. Even with a larger ensemble than Bach would have known, Ansermet doesn’t get bogged down; faster movements move along with grace, even if they do so without a typically Baroque lightness of texture. This 2CD set represents Ansermet’s complete Bach recordings for Decca, and collectively they are issued on CD for the first time. RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 480 0833 Barcode: 0028948008339 Label: Decca Eloquence CD Release Date: November			Handel ARTISTS Henri Helaerts, bassoon Roger Reversy, oboe Jeanne Demessieux, organ L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Ernest Ansermet TRACK LISTING VIVALDI: Bassoon Concertos, RV 497, 481 MARCELLO: Oboe Concerto in C minor HANDEL: Organ Concertos, Op. 4 Nos. 1 & 2 A rare foray for Ansermet into the Baroque era. Henri Helaerts and Roger Reversy were principal winds with the Suisse Romande and their solo work appears in many an orchestral work in his recordings. For this collection of Baroque concertos, Helaerts is soloist in two Vivaldi Bassoon Concertos recorded 16 years apart – in 1952 and 1968. Reversy’s plangent oboe graces much Ravel and Bach on the Decca recordings and here he is heard in the “popular” Marcello Oboe Concerto in C minor. Jeanne Demessieux (1921-1968), the French organist who joined Ansermet on these relatively rare Handel recordings, also was a distinguished composer. She even composed her own cadenzas for these two concertos. Of course these recordings depart from authenticity in her use of pedals, not to mention a large organ. A reviewer at the time of this recording’s release scoffed at her ‘Crystal Palace Handel’. There are, nonetheless, several intimate moments in these 1952 readings. RETURN TO THE TOP