“In [Ma mere l’oye] we were treated to orchestral detail and virtuosity … solos all taken impeccably. … In [L’enfant et les sortilèges] the Berlin Philharmonic was beyond reproach … The vocal parts … shared between a fine team of soloists. … [and] just as impressive was the interaction between the singers. The choral singing was excellent.” (musicweb-international.com)

In the first fruit of the renewed exclusive recording contract with the Berliner Philharmoniker and EMI Classics, Simon Rattle and the orchestra perform a programme of Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortilèges and Ma mère l’oye. Recorded in concert at Berlin’s Philharmonie in September 2008, the disc follows on the heels of their critically-acclaimed release of another classic of the French orchestral repertoire, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.

Joining the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Rundfunkchor Berlin in the one-act opera L'enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Spells) is a stellar cast featuring sopranos Annick Massis and Mojca Erdmann, mezzo-sopranos Magdalena Kožena and Sophie Koch, contralto Nathalie Stutzmann, tenor Jean-Paul Fouchécourt and baritone François Le Roux. Bass-baritone José Van Dam makes cameo appearances as La fauteuille and un arbre.

L'enfant et les sortilèges has strong associations for Sir Simon. Shortly after winning the John Player International Conducting Competition in May 1974, Rattle, then aged 19 conducted the work in concert in Liverpool, receiving the first of many critical successes in his career. A Glyndebourne performance in 1987 sealed his reputation for the work, and this recording encapsulates his love and experience for the charmed sound-world of the Child's house and garden in Ravel's setting. “This idea of children, knowledge and innocence - and loss of innocence – [can be found] right through all [Ravel’s] work and in these two pieces particularly”, Rattle said. “I have loved Ravel since I was a little kid… It has always been with me. And it’s been a particular joy to bring it [to Berlin].”

Maurice Ravel composed L'enfant et les sortilèges between 1917 and 1925 to a libretto by the French novelist Colette, who had selected him from several potential candidates. The opera, which followed his earlier work in the genre, L’heure espagnole, was premiered in Monte Carlo in 1925 with Victor de Sabata conducting and ballet sequences choreographed by George Balanchine. The story unfolds in an old-fashioned French country house. A child, scolded by his mother, goes to his room and throws a tantrum during which he destroys many of his toys and other objects, which then come to life and challenge him. Later, the boy tries to befriend animals and plants from his garden, which reject him because he had previously tortured or destroyed them. When a squirrel is hurt, the boy puts a bandage on him and the other animals relent. At the end of the opera, the boy, duly chastened, greets his approaching mother with the sole word “Maman!”

Ravel composed Ma mère l’oye (Mother Goose Suite) as a set of five piano duets for the talented children of his friends Ida and Cyprien Godebski, taking his inspiration from age-old fairy tales such as The Sleeping Beauty, The Ugly Little Girl and Hop-o My Thumb. It was in this version that they were premiered at the Salle Gaveau in 1910. The following year, Ravel orchestrated them, turning them into a ballet and adding a prelude, a new opening and interludes connecting the various numbers. The work was premiered in this form in Paris in 1912. “The original piano duets are easier pieces, with children in mind,” said Simon Rattle. “but this extraordinary exotic clothing that he put on it and all the interludes that lead in and out of the most incredible sophistication, I think children can love this music but it really takes an adult to understand it – an adult who will open himself and listen like a child.”

Simon Rattle has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 2002. During the Orchestra’s 125th anniversary season in 2007/2008, he led 72 symphony concerts in Berlin and on tour in Austria, Switzerland, the U.S.A., France, the Baltic States and Scandinavia. In the summer of 2008, Sir Simon and the Berliner Philharmoniker gave four performances of Wagner’s Siegfried and two programmes of symphonic works by Brahms, Dvořák, Bartók and Haydn at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. They recently returned from a tour that took audiences and critics in Korea and Japan by storm.