Ravel: L'heure espagnole, M. 54 Münchner Rundfunkorchester & Asher Fisch

• Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): L'heure espagnole, M. 54:
• 1Introduction02:41
• 2Scene 1: Señor Torquemada, horloger de Toléde? (Ramiro, Torquemada)02:03
• 3Scene 2: Totor! (Concepción, Torquemada, Ramiro)02:05
• 4Scene 3: Il reste, voilà bien ma chance! (Concepción, Ramiro, Gonzalve)02:36
• 5Scene 4: Il était temps, voici Gonzalve! (Concepción, Gonzalve)03:06
• 6Scene 5: C'est fait, l'horloge est à sa place (Ramiro, Concepción, Gonzalve)01:47
• 7Scene 6: Maintenant pas de temps à perdre! (Concepción, Gonzalve)01:45
• 8Scene 7: Salut à la belle horlogère! (Iñigo, Concepción)01:50
• 9Scene 8: Voilà!... Et maintenant à l'autre!... (Ramiro, Concepción, Iñigo)01:26
• 10Scene 9: Évidemment, elle me congédie (Iñigo)02:08
• 11Scene 10: Voilà ce que j'appelle une femme charmante (Ramiro)02:10
• 12Scene 11: Monsieur, ah! Monsieur! (Concepción, Ramiro)00:32
• 13Scene 12: Enfin, il part! (Iñigo, Concepción)03:10
• 14Scene 13: Voilà l'objet! Que faut-il que j'en fasse? (Ramiro, Concepción, Iñigo)00:55
• 15Scene 14: Ah! vous, n'est-ce pas, preste! (Concepción, Gonzalve)01:41
• 16Scene 15: En dépit de cette inhumaine (Gonzalve)01:33
• 17Scene 16: Voilà ce que j'appelle une femme charmante (Ramiro, Concepción)02:50
• 18Scene 17: Oh! la pitoyable aventure! (Concepción, Gonzalve)02:55
• 19Scene 18: Voilà!... Et maintenant, Señora, je suis prêt (Ramiro, Concepción)01:26
• 20Scene 19: Mon oeil anxieux interroge (Iñigo, Gonzalve)03:47
• 21Scene 20: Il n'est, pour l'horloger, de joie égale (Torquemada, Iñigo, Gonzalve)02:12
• 22Scene 21: Pardieu, déménageur, vous venez à propos! (Iñigo, Torquemada, Ramiro, Concepción, Gonzalve)05:00
• Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894):
• 23España06:33
• Total Runtime56:11

Info for Ravel: L'heure espagnole, M. 54

The thought of Spain filled many French composers of the 19th and early 20th century with musical yearning – one has only to think of Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen", Maurice Ravel's "Rhapsodie espagnole" (1907), or his famous "Boléro" (1928). Ravel was already inspired by things Iberian in his first work for the stage: "L’heure espagnole" ("The Spanish Hour"), a one-act musical comedy set in Toledo, which premiered in Paris on May 19, 1911. Here he combined fantasy and comedy in the action with “spoken music” full of local Spanish colour. The short opera ends, for instance, with a fiery habanera. Ravel masterfully and wittily integrates the clocks chiming in the workshop of clockmaker Torquemada into the score, together with the sound of their ticking, and of all kinds of chimes or mechanical music machines producing cuckoo calls when striking the hour. Emmanuel Chabrier's rhapsody for orchestra with the promising title of "España" was composed in 1883 and premiered in Paris. The music was inspired by a Spanish journey that Chabrier had undertaken the year before, during which he had noted down many original motifs and rhythms. Spanish folklore is ever-present; in addition to the melodies, it is above all the rhythmic motifs and movement patterns that, when combined, achieve a complexity that was still unknown in art music at that time. A magnificently rousing dance piece in rapid triple time.

A concert performance of the two works took place on April 24, 2016 as part of the "Sonntagskonzerte" (Sunday Concerts) series in Munich’s Prinzregententheater, and can now be experienced on CD. Ravel's opera (in its original French-language version) is interpreted by young soloists, all of them entirely at home in the Franco-Spanish oeuvre; they are accompanied by the Munich Rundfunkorchester under the direction of Asher Fisch.

Gaëlle Arquez, mezzo-soprano (Concepción)
Julien Behr, tenor (Gonzalve)
Mathias Vidal, tenor (Torquemada)
Alexandre Duhamel, baritone (Ramiro)
Lionel Lhote, baritone (Don Iñigo Gomez)
Münchner Rundfunkorchester
Asher Fisch, direction

Live recording from a recent Munich "Sonntagskonzert" on April 24, 2016, Prinzregententheater, Munich

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Booklet for Ravel: L'heure espagnole, M. 54