Recorded live in April 2016 at the Prinzregententheater in Munich with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, this new rendering of Ravel’s L’Heure espagnole boasts, above all, an exemplary cast with only native French-speaking singers – four Frenchmen, Gaëlle Arquez as Concepción, Julien Behr as Gonzalve, Mathias Vidal as Torquemada, Alexandre Duhamel as Ramiro – and the Belgian Lionel Lhote singing Don Iñigo Gomez. In other words, and this is not such a frequent occurrence, the happy listener will be able to hear the work sung by a marvelously youthful cast with perfect experience and a totally impeccable French pronunciation, as well as an insiders’ understanding of the libretto’s gallic essence. This is a recording that ranks very high amongst the best recordings of Ravel’s masterpiece. © SM/Qobuz