Ravel - L'enfant et les Sortilèges · Ma Mère l'Oye / LSO · Previn

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Don't be fooled by this disc's cartoonish cover. With its libretto by Colette and music by Ravel at his witty, jazzy peak,L'Enfant et les Sortilèges is hardly kiddie stuff, even if it is about a wicked child who has an epiphany when the inanimate objects he abuses begin talking back. It's an ideal CD opera, since it demands a fantastical staging that's best left to the imagination, and this new recording is among the best available. Surely, it's sassier, broader, and funnier than Previn's well-received previous recording; since making that recording, the conductor revitalized his jazz career and it shows in the new performance, which also has some sterling vocalism in three different roles by the woefully underrecorded soprano Elizabeth Futral. Also, the engineering has superb depth of field, revealing numerous, often unheard details in Ravel's most multifaceted score. Its main competition is also on Deutsche Grammophon: Lorin Maazel's scintillating, well-sung recording in a two-disc, midpriced set that contains Ravel's other opera, L'Heure Espagnole. It's a good deal, but those who only want L'Enfant can pay less money overall and also get Previn's good-but-not-great Ma Mère l'Oye (a similarly playful twist on children's literature). --David Patrick Stearns

Ravel - L'enfant et les Sortilèges · Ma Mère l'Oye / LSO · Previn, Music, Maurice Ravel, André Previn, Pamela Henen Stephen, Anne-Marie Owens, London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Juanita Lascarro, Mark Tucker, Jacqueline Miura David Wilson-Johnson, Mary Plazas, Robert Lloyd, Rinat Shaham Elizabeth Futral, 20th/21st Century Ballet, Ballet, Classical, Classical Music, French 20th/21st Century Opera, Opera, Opera/Operetta, Orchestral & Symphonic

Ravel - L'enfant et les Sortilèges · Ma Mère l'Oye / LSO · Previn
Average customer rating:

Ravel - meet Verdi?

Sorry but Mr PREVIN is quite off the tracks

Excellent

Musical magic

Ravel - L'enfant et les Sortilèges · Ma Mère l'Oye / LSO · Previn
Maurice Ravel , André Previn , Pamela Henen Stephen , Anne-Marie Owens , London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus , Juanita Lascarro, Mark Tucker, Jacqueline Miura David Wilson-Johnson , and Mary Plazas, Robert Lloyd, Rinat Shaham Elizabeth Futral
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000JLFX
Release Date: 1999-07-20

Tracks:

L'Enfant et les Sortils: J'ai pas envie de faire ma page
L'Enfant et les Sortils: B a sage ?
L'Enfant et les Sortils: m'est l !
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Votre serviteur humble, Berg
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Ding, ding, ding, ding
L'Enfant et les Sortils: How's your mug?
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Keng-fou Mah-jong
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Oh ! Ma belle tasse chinoise
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Arri ! Je rechauffe les bons
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Adieu ! pastourelles
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Ah c'est Elle ! C'est Elle !
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Toi, la coeur de la rose
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Deux robinets coulent dans un reservoir!
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Oh ! ma t !
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Duo miaul
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Musique d'insectes, de rainettes, etc.
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Ah ! quelle joi de te retrouver, Jardin !
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Oh es-tu ? Je te recherche...
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Ronde des chauves souris: Rends-la moi,... tsk tsk
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Danse des rainettes
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Sauve-toi, sotte ! Et la cage ? La cage ?
L'Enfant et les Sortils: La cage, c'it pour mieux voir ta prestesse
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Ah ! C'est l'Enfant au couteau !
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Il a pansa plaie
L'Enfant et les Sortils: Il est bon, l'Enfant, il est sage
Ma M L'Oye: Prde: Trlent
Ma M L'Oye: 1. Danse du rouet et Sc
Ma M L'Oye: 2. Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant
Ma M L'Oye: 3. Les Entretiens de la Belle et de la B
Ma M L'Oye: 4. Petit Poucet
Ma M L'Oye: 5. Laideronnette, Imptrice des pagodes
Ma M L'Oye: 6. Apothe - Le Jardin fique.

Amazon.com essential recording

Don't be fooled by this disc's cartoonish cover. With its libretto by Colette and music by Ravel at his witty, jazzy peak,L'Enfant et les Sortilèges is hardly kiddie stuff, even if it is about a wicked child who has an epiphany when the inanimate objects he abuses begin talking back. It's an ideal CD opera, since it demands a fantastical staging that's best left to the imagination, and this new recording is among the best available. Surely, it's sassier, broader, and funnier than Previn's well-received previous recording; since making that recording, the conductor revitalized his jazz career and it shows in the new performance, which also has some sterling vocalism in three different roles by the woefully underrecorded soprano Elizabeth Futral. Also, the engineering has superb depth of field, revealing numerous, often unheard details in Ravel's most multifaceted score. Its main competition is also on Deutsche Grammophon: Lorin Maazel's scintillating, well-sung recording in a two-disc, midpriced set that contains Ravel's other opera, L'Heure Espagnole. It's a good deal, but those who only want L'Enfant can pay less money overall and also get Previn's good-but-not-great Ma Mère l'Oye (a similarly playful twist on children's literature). --David Patrick Stearns

Customer Reviews:

Ravel - meet Verdi?.......2006-09-28

This is NOT a review of the recording - it is a review of the booklet accompanying the CD - nearly every other page of the booklet is the libretto of Verdi's "Falstaff" - which means a good chunk of the program notes for the Ravel are NOT included!

Sorry but Mr PREVIN is quite off the tracks.......2006-03-26

He has a beethovenian approach of the score which is quite a contradiction. Broad tempos, large orchestra, big sound.

Everything is technically perfect but we are very far from RAVEL. In addition, the french diction of the singers is very poor.

What a difference with his EMI recording of the 80's which is a real gem.

The reference is obviously Ansermet but let's not forget BOUR (mono sound) & JORDAN (stereo sound).

Excellent.......1999-09-18

I know L'enfant... almost as well as I know my name, and I don't even speak French. When compared to the many versions that I already have, it ranks second only to the version I remember from my childhood. Pairing L'enfant et les Sortileges with the Mother Goose Ballet was inspired. This CD would provide a wonderful introduction to opera and classical music in general to the young and those who are untested in classical music. There is one fault. I hate the cover art. I like Chuck Jones, He has made some great cartoons and created some memorable illustations however this misses target completely. It is as if he only listened to a small part of the opera and hastily threw something together to meet a deadline. None of the magic has been conveyed. There is so much more that could have been done. This may seem like a trifle to most but being a fanatic about L'enfant et les Sortiles as well as a graphic designer this was a disappointment. Apart from that The recording was great as was the performance. Very enjoyable

Musical magic.......1999-09-12

At long last there is a set of the two Ravel operas that will be a welcome addition to any collection of French music, Ravel's works, opera, whatever sub-category you can name. Both are on Deutsche Grammophon label, both feature the London Symphony Orchestra under Andre Previn, and both have covers by cartoonist Chuck Jones that belie the value of what lies within. (457 590-2) is a charming work (literally) about a young boy who so maltreats his room, possessions and local animals that they all decide to counterattack. Usually done as a ballet with singers to the side, special effects (animated furniture and even a living math textbook) and the Dance dominate what the eye sees in a full production. But as with most good opera scores (we will debate the adjective at some other time), the music alone is enough to keep our attention as long as we follow the text for at least the first hearing. The lament of the Shepherds and Shepherdesses is among the loveliest moments in all opera, as is the very end when one word convinces the animals to spare the child. Pamela Helen Stephan makes the "Enfant" believable enough musically, although her voice is a bit too mature-sounding. Perhaps the Fire of Elizabeth Futral could use a bit more (forgive this) pyrotechnics, but she and the rest of the large cast are just fine in their roles of objects and animals. The filler offering on this disc, in the expanded orchestral version suffers by comparison with most competitive recordings; but thematically the producers could not have chosen a better companion piece. The second work, < L'Heure Espagnole> (457 590-2) begins very promisingly with the ticking of clocks. And indeed the plot is really quite funny what with grandfather clocks being carried up and down a flight of stairs, with and without amorous wooers hidden inside them. At first hearing, I planned to write how Chaucerian the whole thing was until I found the characters summing the whole thing up with a reference to Boccaccio! The problem on a recording is that the music follows French speaking patterns and there is simply not that much musically that will encourage repeated hearings. But I do urge local vocal groups to get a good English translation and do a staged production of this work as part of an evening's concert. It will be "a regular riot" as Jackie Gleason used to say. Again, the that fills out the CD has been far better treated on other recordings.

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