Ravel: Cantates pour le Prix de Rome Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire & Pascal Rophé

• Maurice Ravel (1873 - 1937): Alyssa, M. 38:
• 1 Ravel: Alyssa, M. 38: Prélude 03:29
• 2 Ravel: Alyssa, M. 38: I. Elfes légers, elfes errants 07:38
• 3 Ravel: Alyssa, M. 38: II. Ma beauté, ma lumière 06:11
• 4 Ravel: Alyssa, M. 38: III. Le barde, porte-glaive ! 08:50
• Alcyone, M. 34:
• 5 Ravel: Alcyone, M. 34: Prélude 03:44
• 6 Ravel: Alcyone, M. 34: I. à l'horizon, les blanches voiles 06:40
• 7 Ravel: Alcyone, M. 34: II. Description symphonique 03:56
• 8 Ravel: Alcyone, M. 34: III. Ah ! Dieux puissants ! 01:50
• 9 Ravel: Alcyone, M. 34: IV. Mon aimé ! Mon aimé ! 05:45
• 10 Ravel: Alcyone, M. 34: V. Ma fille, mon enfant ! 04:47
• Myrrha, M. 29:
• 11 Ravel: Myrrha, M. 29: Prélude 02:21
• 12 Ravel: Myrrha, M. 29: I. Me voici seul enfin ! 03:33
• 13 Ravel: Myrrha, M. 29: II. Ainsi qu'un signal 09:29
• 14 Ravel: Myrrha, M. 29: III. Tu ne passeras pas, ô roi 09:02
• L'aurore, M. 45:
• 15 Ravel: L'aurore, M. 45 06:08
• La nuit, M. 33:
• 16 Ravel: La nuit, M. 33 04:57
• Les Bayadères, M. 25:
• 17 Ravel: Les Bayadères, M. 25 03:53
• Matinée de Provence, M. 37:
• 18 Ravel: Matinée de Provence, M. 37 03:54
• Tout est lumière, M. 28:
• 19 Ravel: Tout est lumière, M. 28 03:52
• Total Runtime 01:39:59

Info for Ravel: Cantates pour le Prix de Rome

Zwischen 1803 und 1968 markierte der Grand Prix de Rome den Höhepunkt der Kompositionsausbildung am Pariser Konservatorium. Zur Zeit von Maurice Ravel umfasste der Wettbewerb eine Ausscheidungsrunde (eine Fuge und ein Chorstück), gefolgt von einer Kantate in Form einer Opernszene. Die Beiträge wurden von einer Jury bewertet, die im Allgemeinen Fachwissen und Konformität gegenüber Originalität bevorzugte. Ravels wachsender Ruf als Mitglied der Avantgarde war daher kaum zu seinem Vorteil und mag erklären, warum er nie den begehrten Premier Grand Prix und den damit verbundenen dreijährigen Aufenthalt in der Villa Medici in Rom gewann.

Die vorliegende Zusammenstellung mit zwei CDs vereint alle Vokalwerke, die Ravel für den Prix de Rome komponierte - fünf kürzere Vertonungen für Chor und Orchester und drei Kantaten, die jeweils drei Personen in einer mehr oder weniger festen Abfolge von Einleitung, Rezitativ und Arie, einem Duett, einem Trio und einem kurzen Schluss zeigen. Diese Teststücke für den Prix de Rome wurden erst mehr als ein halbes Jahrhundert nach Ravels Tod veröffentlicht und haben nie die Popularität seiner anderen frühen Werke wie Pavane pour une infante défunte, Jeux d'eau oder das Streichquartett erlangt. Sie sind jedoch mehr wert, als ihr Ruf als akademische Übungen vermuten lässt, und verdienen es, bekannter zu werden, insbesondere wenn sie vom Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire und Pascal Rophé sowie einem Team von Gesangssolisten, darunter Véronique Gens und Michael Spyres, aufgeführt werden.

Veronique Gens, Sopran
Vannina Santoni, Sopran
Clarisse Dalles, Sopran
Sophie Koch, Mezzosopran
Janina Baechle, Mezzosopran
Julien Behr, Tenor
Michael Spyres, Tenor
Mathys Lagier, Tenor
Jacques Imbrailo, Bariton
Choeur de l'Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire
Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire
Pascal Rophe, Dirigent

Pascal Rophé
An innovative and passionate musician, Pascal Rophé is one of France’s most sought-after conductors. He is currently Music Director of the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, from the 2014/2015 season till 2023 and has been appointed Music Director of the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, effective from September 2022.

Known as one of the foremost exponents of the 20th century repertoire and invited regularly by all the major European ensembles dedicated to contemporary music, Pascal Rophé has also built up an equally enviable reputation for his interpretations of the great symphonic repertoire of the 18th and 19th centuries.

In France and abroad, Pascal Rophé works with many major orchestras including the two orchestras of Radio France, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Iceland Symphony, RTE National Symphony, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Suisse Romande, RAI Torino, Norwegian Radio Symphony, Monte-Carlo Philharmonic, SWR Sinfonieorchester and Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. Highly regarded in Asia, Pascal Rophé regularly conducts the NHK Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Seoul and China Philharmonic orchestras, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan.

Recent highlights include highly successful debuts with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Arctic Philharmonic, Norway as well as concerts with the BBC Symphony, London Sinfonietta and the Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony in Zagreb. He also returned to Korea to conduct the Seoul Philharmonic and to Japan with the Hyogo PAC Orchestra His premieres included performances of the Concerto for violin and cello by Pascal Dusapin with Viktoria Mullova and Matthew Barley in Paris with the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra and in Torino with the Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai Orchestra and he also recorded ballet music by Mantovani with the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Pascal Rophé is committed to the operatic repertoire: Pelléas and Mélisande, Thaïs, The Flying Dutchman, The Dialogues of the Carmélites and contemporary operas as Michael Jarrell’s Galilée, Ahmed Essyad’s Héloïse et Abélard, Michèle Reverdy’s Medée, Bruno Mantovani’s L’autre Côté and Akhmatova.

For his extensive discography of recordings made with the orchestras of Radio France, BBC Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Suisse Romande, Liège Royal Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI Torino, among others. His last two recordings, one with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire and the other with the Monte Carlo Orchestra, are composed of works by Michael Jarrell and Bruno Mantovani (Abstract, Symphony No. 1: L'idée fixe). Pascal Rophé has received numerous awards and has been unanimously praised by the music press.

From 1992, after studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris and winning second prize at the 1988 Besançon International Competition, he collaborated closely with Pierre Boulez, David Robertson and the Ensemble Intercontemporain.

Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire
In September 1971 the Orchestre Philharmonique des Pays de la Loire gave its first concerts in Nantes and Angers under the baton of Pierre Dervaux. Created on the initiative of Marcel Landowski, music director at the Ministry of Culture, the original orchestra was formed by merging the Nantes Opera Orchestra and the Angers Orchestra of the Société des Concerts Populaires. Thus, since its beginning, the orchestra has been based in two cities: Angers and Nantes.

Pierre Dervaux was its first music director, followed by Marc Soustrot from 1976 to 1994, and Hubert Soudant from 1994 to 2004. The orchestra became “national” in 1996 with further concerts in Germany, Hungary, Austria, China, Japan and elsewhere. Following the Brazilian Isaac Karabtchevsky, the American conductor John Axelrod was appointed music director in September 2010, and was succeeded in February 2013 by Pascal Rophé, who has brought his own characteristic contribution to the orchestra’s repertoire.

The orchestra is supported financially by the regional council of the Pays de la Loire, the Ministry of Culture, the Nantes and Angers town councils, and the Départements of Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire and Vendée.

Booklet for Ravel: Cantates pour le Prix de Rome