Orchestral Works 2 - Valses Nobles Et Sentimentale

Maurice Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales present a vivid mixture of atmospheric impressionism, intense expression and modernist wit, his fascination with the waltz further explored in La valse, a mysterious evocation of a vanished imperial epoch. Heard here in an orchestration by Marius Constant, Gaspard de la nuitis Ravel's response to the other-worldly poems of Aloysius Bertrand, and the dance suite Le tombeau de Couperinis a tribute to friends who fell in the war of 1914-18 as well as a great 18th century musical forbear. 'It is a delightful and assorted collection... presented in splendid performances by the Orchestre National de Lyon led by their music director, the venerable American conductor Leonard Slatkin' (Classical.net/ Volume 1, 8. 572887).