Yannick Nézet-Séguin / Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2 - Valses nobles et sentimentales - La Valse - Ma Mère l'Oye

The exciting young conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who succeeded Valery Gergiev as Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra last season, makes his EMI Classics debut with the Orchestra in an all-Ravel programme. The repertoire features the composer’s greatest orchestral works: Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2, Valses nobles et sentimentales, La Valse and Ma mère l’Oye.

For Nézet-Séguin, Maurice Ravel is the greatest orchestrator French music has ever had: “It’s all about colours” Yannick says, “and the contrast between intimacy and grandness, La Valse being one of his greatest and most powerful symphonic poems and the Valses nobles et sentimentales being much more intimate (…).Daphnis and Chloe is one of his most uplifting and triumphant works while Ma mère L’Oye is so intimate.” This disc explores the enormous variety of Ravel’s orchestral music through three of his particular themes: his fascination with childhood; his interest in the culture and character of Ancient Greece; and a near obsession with waltzes of all kinds. Indeed the collection is suffused with dance, ballet and rhythmic energy.