IDAGIO | Debussy: La mer, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune – Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole 0822231182160

Featuring

François-Xavier Roth
London Symphony Orchestra
Maurice Ravel
Claude Debussy

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Recording & Production

This album was recorded live at the Barbican, London, with different pieces recorded on separate dates in 2018 and 2019.

Compositional Technique

Ravel's Rapsodie espagnole uses a descending four-note figure that recurs in all movements except the Habanera, which was composed 12 years earlier.

Composer Biography

Claude Debussy preferred the company of poets and painters to musicians, and was a devotee of Symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé's gatherings.

Composition History

Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune was initially planned as part of a larger work for a staged reading of Stéphane Mallarmé's poem, but Debussy decided the prelude needed no sequel.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Ravel had recurrent 'Spanish fever' throughout his career, with his most significant Iberian-inspired works, including Rapsodie espagnole, composed in 1907.

Performer Biography

François-Xavier Roth, the conductor on this album, is the Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur.

Composer Biography

Maurice Ravel, despite being born in a rural Basque village, was raised in Paris and entered the Conservatoire as a preparatory piano student in 1889.