Maurice Ravel - Songs (Gerald Finley; Julius Drake)

Information

Composer: Maurice Ravel

• (01) Histoires naturelles
• (06) Ronsard à son âme
• (07) Don Quichotte à Dulcinée
• (10) Un grand sommeil noir
• (11) Les grands vents venus d’outremer
• (12) Sur l’herbe
• (13) Chants populaires
• (17) Noël des jouets
• (18) Deux épigrammes de Clément Marot
• (20) Cinq mélodies populaires grecques
• (25) Deux mélodies hebraiques

Gerald Finley, baritone
Julius Drake, piano

Date: 2009
Label: Hyperion
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67728

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Review

Evocative performances of these exquisitely crafted miniatures

There is a vast gulf between the bibulous bravado of the “Chanson à boire” that Ravel included in his Don Quichotte à Dulcinée songs and the bleak, dark despair of his Verlaine setting “Un Grand sommeil noir”. Placing them next to one another in this fine selection of over two dozen songs emphasises the broad expressive range that Ravel was able to embrace. It also throws into focus the way that Gerald Finley and Julius Drake can so evocatively tap their emotional substance. These exquisitely crafted miniatures, whether in the folk-inspired Chants populaires and Cinq mélodies populaires grecques or in the tender “Noëls des jouets” to a text of Ravel’s own, show his creative fastidiousness in a consistently positive light: the mood might be robust or rarefied, but Ravel’s sense of colour and atmosphere is infallible. The imagery of the Histoires naturelles, for example, testifies to Ravel’s intuitive response to poetry and to his precise placing of the tonal brushstrokes. In this respect, the piano is an essential collaborator, etching in the background for the gliding grace of the swan or the chirping of the cricket. Drake draws the ear ineluctably into Ravel’s imaginative world, as he does elsewhere in the cool restraint of “Ronsard à son âme” or the turbulence and shifting currents of “Les grands vents venus d’outremer”. Finley’s mellifluous, malleable baritone is similarly an ideal match for this repertoire, with lines eloquently floated, nuances subtly voiced and character sensitively defined. This is a beguiling programme, beautifully performed.

-- Geoffrey Norris, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: ***** / SOUND: ****
MusicWeb International  RECORDING OF THE MONTH
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jun/12/ravel-songs-finley-drake
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/recordings/cd-finley-ravel-0609.shtml
https://www.audaud.com/ravel-songs-gerald-finley-baritone-julius-drake-piano-hyperion/
https://www.amazon.com/Ravel-Songs-Gerald-Finley/dp/B0025YZ82Y

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Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with impressionism along with Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as France's greatest living composer. Among his works to enter the repertoire are pieces for piano, chamber music, two piano concertos, ballet music, two operas, and eight song cycles. His best known works include Boléro (1928), Gaspard de la nuit (1908), Daphnis et Chloé (1912). Ravel was also an exceptionally skilled orchestrator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Ravel

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Gerald Finley (born January 30, 1960 in Montreal) is a Canadian baritone opera singer. He received his musical education in St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Ottawa, the University of Ottawa, King's College, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music in London, England. Finley is particularly renowned for his interpretations of Mozart roles such as Guglielmo, Papageno, Figaro, the Count and Don Giovanni. He has been critically praised both in opera and in concert, being praised by audience and critics alike. Finley has appeared on a number of recordings, including several solo albums on the Hyperion label.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Finley
http://www.geraldfinley.com/

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Julius Drake (born 5 April 1959 in London) is an English pianist who works as a song recital accompanist and chamber musician. Drake was educated at the Purcell School and the Royal College of Music; he made his professional debut at the Purcell Room in 1981 and developed a special affinity for the music of Robert Schumann. Drake is now a professor at the Royal Academy of Music and a visiting professor at the Royal Northern College of Music. His numerous recordings include playing on screen in David Alden's 1997 film of Schubert's Winterreise for Channel 4 with Ian Bostridge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Drake
http://www.juliusdrake.com/

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