# Your Top Ravel Conductors



## JTech82 (Feb 6, 2009)

I've become quite the knowledgeable one when it comes to Ravel. He is, after all, one of my favorite composers. Who would you guys consider are the top Ravel conductors? Here are mine:

Jean Martinon









Yan Pascal Tortelier









Pierre Boulez









It is in my listening experience that these conductors understand Ravel's music better than anybody. Better than Dutoit, Bernstein, Karajan, Abbado, Munch, Ansermet (although he had a personal friendship with him), among others. Of course, it is your ears who are the final judges.

I will also say that many of these conductors don't get inside the music better than the ones pictured above.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Pierre Monteux was considered a great Ravel conductor.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I agree that Bernstein was one of the top conductors of Ravel's music. My personal favourite, though, would have to be Ernest Ansermet. He had a very direct, no frills style. Of the living ones, Charles Dutoit is the one I know & like best.


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## JTech82 (Feb 6, 2009)

Andre said:


> I agree that Bernstein was one of the top conductors of Ravel's music. My personal favourite, though, would have to be Ernest Ansermet. He had a very direct, no frills style. Of the living ones, Charles Dutoit is the one I know & like best.


Bernstein, in my opinion, is NOT a good Ravel conductor. The only reason I acknowledged him is because many people feel differently. Karajan is also a bad Ravel conductor, but the reason I mentioned them is because, again, people hold them in high regard when it comes to Ravel.

Martinon, Tortelier, and Boulez are it for me.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

I'm afraid I'm not as well-acquainted with Ravel's orchestral music as are others on this forum. However, I've owned the Martinon Ravel box (must've misplaced it somewhere... exceedingly stupid of me, but it gives me the excuse to buy the budget box that includes Debussy's orchestra stuff too!), and that is quite the amazing set.


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## YsayeOp.27#6 (Dec 7, 2007)

jtech82 said:


> i've become quite the knowledgeable one when it comes to ravel.


:d...............


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## JTech82 (Feb 6, 2009)

World Violist said:


> I'm afraid I'm not as well-acquainted with Ravel's orchestral music as are others on this forum. However, I've owned the Martinon Ravel box (must've misplaced it somewhere... exceedingly stupid of me, but it gives me the excuse to buy the budget box that includes Debussy's orchestra stuff too!), and that is quite the amazing set.


I own the EMI 8-disc Martinon set and it's some of the best Ravel and Debussy I've heard and yes it's an amazing set.


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## YsayeOp.27#6 (Dec 7, 2007)

JTech82 said:


> He is, after all, one of my favorite composers.


Ever played any of his works?


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## JTech82 (Feb 6, 2009)

YsayeOp.27#6 said:


> Ever played any of his works?


No, I've incorporated some of his ideas in my improvisations at various points. What about you?

For me, I'm not interested in playing a composer's work unless I can play as it's meant to be heard with an orchestra, quartet, or whatever, because Ravel's compositions and orchestrations are so dynamic. I would need the full range of an orchestra.


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## YsayeOp.27#6 (Dec 7, 2007)

JTech82 said:


> No, I've incorporated some of his ideas in my improvisations at various points. What about you?


Yes. Not many... but yes.


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## JTech82 (Feb 6, 2009)

YsayeOp.27#6 said:


> Yes. Not many... but yes.


Okay, that's good.


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## shsherm (Jan 24, 2008)

I heard a performance of Ravel's music in Rotterdam a couple of years ago and the conductor was French. His name was Jacques Mercier and the performance was terrific.


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## handlebar (Mar 19, 2009)

I like both Boulez and Dutoit as conductors in Ravel's music. Both seem to let the music flow along well without exaggerated changes of tempo. Boulez can be a bit more liberal than Dutoit though. A yin and yang duo.

Jim


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## toughcritic (Jan 22, 2007)

I am very curious to find out what do you think about Ravel's own conducting of his bolero...




I couldn't care for it one bit! Strange, but his own conducting doesn't do the piece any justice.
I am not a fan of Bernstein's Ravel either...
Ozawa does a better job in my view.


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## JTech82 (Feb 6, 2009)

handlebar said:


> I like both Boulez and Dutoit as conductors in Ravel's music. Both seem to let the music flow along well without exaggerated changes of tempo. Boulez can be a bit more liberal than Dutoit though. A yin and yang duo.
> 
> Jim


I've never cared much for Dutoit, especially the way he seems to gloss over some very important parts, like for example, "Le Tombeau de Couperin." In the hands of Martinon, Boulez, and Tortelier it sounds so perfect, but when I heard Dutoit conduct this piece I wasn't impressed. His tempi is too rushed. The emphasis on the woodwinds seems secondary, which is a big no no when dealing with Ravel or Debussy. Perhaps he's good with other composers, but he's not a Ravel or Debussy conductor that's for sure.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

handlebar said:


> I like both Boulez and Dutoit as conductors in Ravel's music. Both seem to let the music flow along well without exaggerated changes of tempo. Boulez can be a bit more liberal than Dutoit though. A yin and yang duo.


I agree. I have works by Debussy conducted by both and they are both superb. I think that Boulez's rendering is more epic, though, and Dutoit concentrates a bit more on the details. But I think both are good at conducting this type of music.

To digress a bit, I also heard Boulez on radio conduct the chamber version of Wagner's _Siegfried Idyll_ with the Berlin Philharmonic, and he seems to be a conductor who is equally at home when interpreting such smaller scale works.


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