RAVEL: “BOLERO.” DEBUSSY-RAVEL: “SARABANDE”; “DANSE.” MUSSORGSKY-RAVEL: “PICTURES...

RAVEL: “BOLERO.” DEBUSSY-RAVEL: “SARABANDE”; “DANSE.” MUSSORGSKY-RAVEL: “PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION.” Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly, conductor. London 417 611-2 (compact disc). Italian-born Chailly, the recently appointed principal conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, has chosen a familiar, one might even say hackneyed, Ravel sampler for one of his first recordings with the orchestra. Debussy’s “Sarabande” and “Danse,” originally written for piano and later orchestrated by the indefatigable Ravel, prove the most amenable to Chailly’s suave, unruffled approach. But his bland “Bolero,” less seductive than soporific, and his bloodless “Pictures at an Exhibition,” cry out for more passion, strength and rhythmic bite. These “Pictures” are no more than pretty museum pieces.