French conductor Louis Frémaux found his greatest artistic successes in England, where he was renowned not only for his idiomatic and emphatic championing of English composers but his colorful approach to French music. His late recording of Ravel’s Boléro received a rave review from Gramophone: “Boléro has lots of style with the glissando inherent in the melody first hinted at in the early presentations of the tune and becoming more overt towards the end.… [T]he sound gives the music-making a sense of spectacle and bite.… The opening of Boléro is played pianissimo… then the climax is overwhelming. It is good to see Frémaux back in the recording studio for he generally has the gift of bringing everything readily to life.”
