American conductor Leonard Slatkin and the Orchestre National de Lyon are recording the complete orchestral work of Maurice Ravel. Unfulfilled to record only the famous scores like Boléro and La Valse, Leonard Slatkin explores the smallest nooks of Maurice Ravel work : rare compositions, the orchestrations….and his two operas L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (The Child and the Spells) and l’Heure Espagnole (The Spanish Hour).

Despite many charming melodies and the lovely French touch, l’Heure Espagnole is quite rare to find in discography. Its best recording is the very old performance conducted by Lorin Maazel and the Orchestre National de l’ORTF (DGG-1965).  We greet this new record with a very positive response! The conducting of Leonard Slatkin is clear and idiomatic. The complete cast is outstanding (Luca Lombardo, Isabelle Druet, Frédéric Antoun, Marc Barrard and Nicolas Courjal). The small cycles of 3 melodies « Don Quichotte à Dulcinée » is a perfect complement.

Leonard Slatkin offers another disc with the conventional coupling composed by L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and “Ma Mère l’Oye” Mother Goose. The singers are excellent: Helène Hébrad, Delphine Galou, Julie Pasturaud, Jean-Paul Fouchécourt Marc Barrard, Ingrid Perruche and Annick Massis.

Both recordings are an essential step in work of Leonard Slatkin and the National Orchestra of Lyon.

Pierre-Jean Tribot