Eduardo Mata’s RCA disc distinguishes itself even among the many fine Ravel recordings currently available. A natural Ravelian, Mata conducts these marvelous scores with affecting passion and unerring stylistic fidelity. What’s more, he gets the Dallas Symphony to play with a special sensitivity to the music’s peculiarly French nuance, in this case slightly accented by an American brashness that you can hear most prominently in La Valse’s shimmering delirium, or in the punchy brass declamations at the conclusion of Boléro. Mata is particularly attuned to the subtly complex rhythms and pointed accents of Alborada del gracioso and Rapsodie espagnole, but he’s no less at home in Ravel’s non-“Spanish” music, skillfully balancing the delicate timbres of Le Tombeau de Couperin.
RCA’s early 1980s digital recordings sound vibrant in these 24-bit/96k remasterings (though there’s still a trace of high frequency brittleness in the tuttis), but they still cannot match the analog warmth and fullness of Ozawa’s marvelous Boston performances on DG Eloquence. Nonetheless, for sheer musical enjoyment, this Ravel collection can go toe-to-toe with much of the competition, especially at mid-price.
