We are delighted to share that Rafael Payare and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal’s recording of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring has received a five-star review in BBC Music Magazine.
Critic John-Pierre Joyce calls it “an outstanding recording of Ravel’s ballet,” arriving a generation after Charles Dutoit’s classic Montreal recording and five years after Payare took up his post as the orchestra’s director. He explains that it is only in its full form, with the complete chorus, that the energy, power and mysticism of Daphnis et Chloé can be fully appreciated. Payare and the Montreal forces, he writes, illuminate both the sensual, dreamy side of Ravel’s score and its darker corners, with the wordless chorus providing a robust and sometimes menacing commentary. In The Rite of Spring, which occupies the second disc, Payare and his orchestra “relish the work’s rhythmic brutality, abrupt tempo changes and tonal dissonances,” while drawing out instrumental details that often escape the listener’s attention.
Released on 30 October, the double album pairs Ravel’s complete Daphnis et Chloé with Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.
Read the full review in the latest issue of BBC Music Magazine.