Debussy: La mer, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune & Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole [download]

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Release date: 23 October 2020
LSO0821-D | 0822231182160
Stereo FLAC 24 bit 96 kHz
Stereo MP3 320 kbps

Producer: Nicholas Parker
Engineers: Classic Sound
Recorded January & March 2018, April 2019
Barbican Hall, London , Barbican Hall, London
★★★★★
'Alert and refined: LSO on top form under François-Xavier Roth.'
– Bachtrack

★★★★
'Understated yet infinitely subtle...Every note of this dreamy tone poem was balanced just so. The lazy, hot afternoon was ushered in on the gentlest of breezes by Gareth Davies’s flute solo, the air soon thick with sounds and the atmosphere sensuous.'
– The Times

'Roth and the LSO stirred up a kaleidoscope of associations in Rapsodie espagnole, Ravel's adroit annexation of exotic Spanish idiom to a cooler French sensibility.'
– Classical Source

£8.99

François-Xavier Roth
London Symphony Orchestra

A fascination with his Spanish heritage would be a recurring theme in many of Ravel’s creations. Mysterious melodies weave delicately throughout his early work Rapsodie espagnole, punctuated by bursts of Spanish-inspired fanfares and Habanera dance rhythms.

The voluptuous flute opening of the Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune immediately conjures a world of luxurious fantasy, weaving through the music’s changing scenes with effortless spontaneity. Every instrument adds something unique, and the whole work appears to float free of form and convention.

In La mer, Debussy tells the story of the eternal odyssey of the ocean. He sails through storm and calm, wind and rain, in music that rises and falls with the rhythms of the sea. The score is so vivid that you can almost smell sea salt and see the crests of the waves.