Maurice Ravel - Daphnis & Chloe - Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orcestra. 
SACD rip to iso | 1955 | 2004. Hybrid SACD. 
Classical | Label: RCA/Living Stereo | Catalog Number: 8287661 

Checksum: 1dc1c29cbb2c11fdfbe3633da1564359 *Charles Munch, conductor - Ravel Daphnis et Chloe.iso

Ravel's magnificent "choreographic symphony" was the musical preserve of two great French conductors, Pierre Monteux and Charles Munch. Munch recorded the work twice for RCA, and this is the earlier of his two versions. Neither is better than the other. To the composer's customary brilliance of sound, Munch added an almost physical urgency and impact. Listening to this colorful performance, you can really hear stuff happening from one moment to the next. The actual plot is irrelevant to your enjoyment. What stays with you is a sense of movement, of thrills and chills on the way to a gloriously happy ending. -- David Hurwitz

One of the all-time greatest Ravel discs now comes in even superior sound quality. Fifty years after date, Charles Munch's 1955 reading remains nothing less than ideal by its totally spontaneous drive, its unerring sense of colour and atmosphere, while the virtuosic playing of the Boston Symphony is quite simply outstanding. The beautifully balanced sound (always a great asset of these early RCA stereo recordings) is most impressively rendered by the DSD technology.



         Tracks:

01. Invocation to the nymphs 06:25
02. Entrance of Daphnis and Chloe 00:49
03. Dance of the young girls around Daphnis 00:59
04. Dorcon`s advance to Chloe 02:12
05. Daphnis reasserts his love for Chloe. The Dorcon-Daphnis dance contest for a kiss from Chloe 00:32
06. Dorcon`s grotesque dance 01:37
07. The gracious dance of Daphnis 02:31
08. The triumph of Daphnis and the ecstatic union with Chloe 00:57
09. Entrance of the tempress Lyceion and dance of veils 02:00
10. The invasion of the pirates and Daphnis`s unsuccessful efforts to save Chloe 01:41
11. Invocation to Pan by the nymphs and the prayer of Daphnis 05:03
12. Interlude 03:14
13. The orgiastic dance of the pirates 03:59
14. Bryaxis orders Chloe to be brought forward and to dance 00:29
15. Chloe`s dance of supplication 04:15
16. Creatures of Pan appear and frighten the pirates, who flee in terror, leaving Chloe alone with a shining crown 01:11
17. Sunrise, Daphins prostrate at the grotto of the nymphs 03:47
18. Daphnis and Chloe are reunited 01:49
19. Lammon tells how Pan saved Chloe in memory of his love for the nymph Syrinx Daphnis and Chloe act out the story. 02:02
20. Pan (Daphnis) fashions a flute from some reeds, on which he declares his love for Syrinx (Chloe) 02:27
21. Abandoning their roles, the lovers embrace and kneel at the altar of the nymphs 02:06
22. Girls dressed as bacchantes enter with tambourines 00:13
23. Young men invade the scene, and joyous tumult prevails in tribute to the triumph of the lovers 03:57

The sensuous appeal of this version of the wonderfully evocative and very French ballet score has probably never been surpassed. In fact, I would call this the very best of the half dozen or so Living Stereo SACDs I have heard so far. John Pfeiffer produced it in l955, well before the introduction of the stereodisc. It was recorded two-channels only, but still easily beats out the LP and standard CD versions, and doesn’t seem to suffer in comparison to the other Living Stereo three-channel SACDs. The original LP was quite an achievement since it runs nearly 55 minutes, and after about 40 minutes total things were getting dicey at maintaining good sound when mastering an LP... audaud.com