Nymphs And Shepherds ( And Pirates )

Idiomatic recordings of the music of Ravel by Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal and the Choeur de L'Orchestre de Montreal conducted by Charles Dutoit. The main work is the ballet suite Daphnis et Chloe. It had a chequered start with ravel missing deadlines for the Ballet Russes and Diaghilev cutting the chorus music that is so distinctive, maybe because of cost. The concert suite has proved a popular mainstay however. A work of its' time, suitably impressionistic with one of the more famous depictions of a sunrise and nymph and sea music to rival Debussy. Dutoit eventually had a rather acrimonious exit from Montreal but prior to that the orchestra under him built a fine reputation in this kind of repertoire. There are two other works on the disk, the orchestral setting of the piano piece Pavane Pour Un Infante Defunte ( brief but gorgeous ) and La Valse ( the nightmare waltz setting so beloved of BBC Radio 3 producers as a stopgap in the schedules ).