While perhaps not one of the great performances of Daphnis et Chloé, this 2006 recording of
Ravel's symphonie chorégraphique is still quite a fine effort.
Laurent Petitgirard leads the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and the Bordeaux Opera Chorus in a wonderfully colorful, deeply idiomatic, and very well-played reading. With suave strings, cool winds, blended brass, and an alert ensemble, the Bordeaux orchestra is clearly a first-rate band. Likewise, the singing of the full-bodied Bordeaux Opera Chorus adds more than atmosphere to the goings on -- by the time it and the orchestra reach the coda of the closing Bacchanal together, the choir's performance is absolutely intoxicating. With the supple but firm guidance of
Petitgirard, this is a well-shaped, well-paced, and highly characterful interpretation of
Ravel's masterpiece. It may not rank with
Charles Münch and
Pierre Monteux's classic recordings or
Charles Dutoit and
Pierre Boulez's more recent recordings, but this recording by
Petitgirard and the Bordeaux groups still deserves to be heard by anyone who really loves the work. Recorded in Franklin Hall in Bordeaux, Naxos' sound is clean and evocative with a real sense of place and a marvelous echo.