Ravel Chansons Roussel Symphony no.3

# Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, song cycle for voice & ensemble (or piano)
Composed by Maurice Ravel
Performed by BBC Symphony Orchestra
with Jill Gomez
Conducted by Pierre Boulez
# Chansons madécasses, song cycle for soprano, flute, cello & piano
Composed by Maurice Ravel
with Jessye Norman, InterContemporain Ensemble
Conducted by Pierre Boulez
# Don Quichotte à Dulcinée, song cycle for voice & orchestra (or piano)
Composed by Maurice Ravel
Performed by BBC Symphony Orchestra
with Jose Van Dam
Conducted by Pierre Boulez
# Cinq mélodies populaires grecques, song cycle for voice & piano (or orchestra)
Composed by Maurice Ravel
Performed by BBC Symphony Orchestra
with Jose Van Dam
Conducted by Pierre Boulez
# Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Op. 42
Composed by Albert Roussel
Performed by New York Philharmonic
Conducted by Pierre Boulez
Amazon.com
Ravel's Madagascar Songs are less well known than they should be, and they reflect the great change that came over Western artistic perceptions of the Orient between the 19th and 20th centuries. Where 19th- century grand opera presented Westerners as the bearers of a superior culture to Eastern primitives, by the 20th century the West had become a symbol of decadence and corruption, the despoiler of paradise. Neither view reflects anything like reality, of course, but reality wasn't Ravel's intention. All of his music is pure fantasy, whether the subject is China, Spain, ancient Greece, Don Quixote, or Madagascar. These performances are all expert, and very well sung and recorded. --David Hurwitz