Album Review: RAVEL The Flute Album by Julien Beaudiment & Célia Oneto Bensaid

Maurice Ravel’s music has always been a playground for color, texture, and atmosphere—a painter’s palette transformed into sound. In their stunning new release, RAVEL: The Flute Album, flutist Julien Beaudiment and pianist Célia Oneto Bensaid invite us to rediscover this luminous world through a fresh lens. The program presents Ravel’s works arranged for flute and piano by three masters of the instrument: Robert Stallman, Jean-Christophe Maltot, and Julien Beaudiment himself.

The result is more than a collection of transcriptions—it is a reimagining. Works originally conceived for orchestra or other instrumental combinations are distilled into the intimate dialogue of flute and piano. This format brings a new transparency to Ravel’s impressionistic idiom, allowing the listener to savor delicate details often hidden in larger textures.

At the heart of the album lies the Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé, M. 57b, arranged by Beaudiment and Maltot.

Here, the duo captures the full scope of Ravel’s orchestral brilliance within the intimacy of chamber music. Oneto Bensaid’s piano recreates the shimmer of strings and the swell of winds with remarkable clarity, while Beaudiment’s flute soars with radiant lyricism.

The “Lever du jour” emerges like a private sunrise, hushed yet glowing; the “Pantomime” is tender, sensual, and languorous; and the “Danse générale” bursts with exhilarating energy, flute and piano locked in dazzling synchrony.

Other gems highlight the breadth of Ravel’s output. Stallman’s transcriptions reveal the flute’s affinity with Ravel’s vocal lines, transforming songs into lyrical monologues full of nuance and breath. Beaudiment’s own arrangements honor the composer’s spirit while expanding the instrument’s repertoire, offering new ways for flutists to engage with this music.

What makes this album so compelling is the sheer artistry of its interpreters. Beaudiment’s sound is golden and supple, then turns intimate and expansive, while Oneto Bensaid proves an ideal partner—imaginative, sensitive, and full of color. Together, they achieve that rare balance where virtuosity never overshadows expression but instead serves the music’s emotional landscape.

RAVEL: The Flute Album is both a celebration and a revelation. For flutists, it enriches the repertoire with brilliant new adaptations. For listeners, it offers the chance to hear familiar masterpieces anew, refracted through the prism of flute and piano. In the hands of Beaudiment and Oneto Bensaid, Ravel’s world is as intoxicating as ever—intimate, radiant, and endlessly alive.