Pierre Boulez’s sensual side—really, the arch-modernist has one—is most apparent when he performs the Impressionist music of his French forerunner Ravel. The conductor’s crisp, deliberate, yet fully decadent performances of Boléro have been of great assistance to listeners’ understanding of that piece; on this recording, the woodwind and brass players of the Berliner Philharmoniker savour every solo feature, along with Boulez and his firm hand. Equally stunning is their collective take on Rapsodie espagnole (check out the glistening passages of gorgeousness that surround moments of tumult during “Feria”).
- 1973
- Trinity Baroque, Julian Podger, The Forbury Consort, Alan Crumpler, The Holbein Consort, Martin Pope & Steven Player
- Los Angeles Philharmonic & Esa-Pekka Salonen
- Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic & Columbia Symphony Orchestra
- New York Kammermusiker
- London Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy & André Previn
- Arcanto Quartett & Jörg Widmann
- Arthur Rubinstein