Maurice Ravel’s stage works are as subtle and expressively poised as can be imagined. In the Spanish-tinged L’Heure espagnole he breathes new life into the Italian genre of the opera buffa, enhancing the comedy in the plot by giving it a gentle human poignancy and poetic presence. The clarity of Ravel’s vocal writing, and his signature harmonic magic and luminous orchestration, make this opera a delight for the ear. Don Quichotte à Dulcinée was Ravel’s last composition, imbuing Cervantes’s famous character with aristocratic Spanish swagger as well as a kind of heroic tenderness and vulnerability.

This release follows on from Leonard Slatkin’s acclaimed recording of Ravel’s second opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges and Ma Mère l’Oye (Naxos 8.660336), and joins the success of this internationally renowned conductor and the Orchestre National de Lyon in our edition of Ravel’s orchestral music. Gramophone acclaimed Slatkin’s conducting as “shaping the music with a potent mix of the sensuous, sinuous, sinister and spirited” in volume 1 (8.572887), and volume 2 (8.572888) was admired for its “splendidly characterised La Valse” by BBC Music Magazine.

Cast (L’Heure espagnole):
- Torquemada: Luca Lombardo
- Concepción: Isabelle Druet
- Gonzalve: Frédéric Antoun
- Ramiro: Marc Barrard
- Don Iñigo Gomez: Nicolas Courjal

- Don Quichotte: Francois Le Roux