Debussy Orchestral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Claude Debussy
Label: Supraphon
Magazine Review Date: 2/1992
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 58
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 11 0396-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (La) Mer |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Libor Pesek, Conductor |
| Images |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Libor Pesek, Conductor |
Author: John Steane
Just a hint of vibrato brings a welcome warmth to the Czech horns' floating of the principal theme of La mer's first movement (fig. 3, 1'47''). The February 1992 timbres of the Czech winds certainly suggest a Mediterranean seascape, just as the recording's sharp focus for detail suggests a Mediterranean clarity. And if Nature was Debussy's great teacher, is it not essential that the orchestra is 'suspended' in an acoustic that suggests open space? The House of Artists, Prague has just such an acoustic, and the image is as broad and deep as it is teeming with life. Slightly overbright violins are the only grumble one could possibly have with the sound on this disc.
And what characters the Gzech woodwinds are in ''Jeux de vagues'', the sights and sounds of sea birds vividly suggested at the start (silvery flutes swoop and the cor anglais chatters). Animated playing of featherlight delicacy from the whole orchestra is urgently propelled by Pesek, with the myriad details of the score caught in near perfect proportion. Not since the 1962 Giulini (mid-price EMI) has this movement (in both senses of the word), for me, engendered such exhilaration. From one bar after fig. 28 (3'00'') the trumpets remain muted, which is unusual, but effective.
You will have to look elsewhere for a more obviously elemental ''Dialogue du vent et de la mer'', say to Dutoit (Decca), and there you will find the additional brass parts at 4 after 59 which Pesek (like Giulini) omits. All three (quite correctly in my view) reserve maximum force in the central crash for the cornets' rising figure (3 after fig. 51, 3'06''). A pity then that the Czech cornets don't manage the opening F sharp of that figure.
A tiny point, you may say (I'd agree), and of little consequence in one of the finest of recent versions ofLa mer. But small imprecisions in the Images bothered me more. And despite playing that is both vital and refined in general terms, Pesek's reading does not seem as fully formed as IR1 Monteux's (Philips—currently nla) or Rattle's (EMI). It is arguable that Debussy intended the string glissandos to enrich ''Iberia's'' perfumed night more than they do here, but I miss une grande intensite for this movement's climax. And there's wit but perhaps too much refinement in the succeeding holiday festivities not much local colour from the strings as they imitate a band of guitars, and surely Debussy intended the trumpets to sound coarser than they do here? A very brisk ''Rondes de Printemps'' brings more reservations both of balance and characterization. At the climax of the dance (fig. 24, 5'56'') the woodwind are not really sufficiently joyeux et tres en dehors, and there's little accenting of the cross-rhythms in he accompanying strings.'
And what characters the Gzech woodwinds are in ''Jeux de vagues'', the sights and sounds of sea birds vividly suggested at the start (silvery flutes swoop and the cor anglais chatters). Animated playing of featherlight delicacy from the whole orchestra is urgently propelled by Pesek, with the myriad details of the score caught in near perfect proportion. Not since the 1962 Giulini (mid-price EMI) has this movement (in both senses of the word), for me, engendered such exhilaration. From one bar after fig. 28 (3'00'') the trumpets remain muted, which is unusual, but effective.
You will have to look elsewhere for a more obviously elemental ''Dialogue du vent et de la mer'', say to Dutoit (Decca), and there you will find the additional brass parts at 4 after 59 which Pesek (like Giulini) omits. All three (quite correctly in my view) reserve maximum force in the central crash for the cornets' rising figure (3 after fig. 51, 3'06''). A pity then that the Czech cornets don't manage the opening F sharp of that figure.
A tiny point, you may say (I'd agree), and of little consequence in one of the finest of recent versions of
Debussy Orchestral Works
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