Debussy: Orchestral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Claude Debussy
Label: Decca
Magazine Review Date: 2/1987
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 417 488-4DH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (La) Mer |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Cleveland Orchestra Vladimir Ashkenazy, Conductor |
| Nocturnes |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Cleveland Orchestra Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Vladimir Ashkenazy, Conductor |
| Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Cleveland Orchestra Vladimir Ashkenazy, Conductor |
Composer or Director: Claude Debussy
Label: Decca
Magazine Review Date: 2/1987
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 417 488-1DH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (La) Mer |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Cleveland Orchestra Vladimir Ashkenazy, Conductor |
| Nocturnes |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Cleveland Orchestra Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Vladimir Ashkenazy, Conductor |
| Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Cleveland Orchestra Vladimir Ashkenazy, Conductor |
Composer or Director: Claude Debussy
Label: Decca
Magazine Review Date: 2/1987
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 417 488-2DH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (La) Mer |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Cleveland Orchestra Vladimir Ashkenazy, Conductor |
| Nocturnes |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Cleveland Orchestra Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Vladimir Ashkenazy, Conductor |
| Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Cleveland Orchestra Vladimir Ashkenazy, Conductor |
Author: Christopher Headington
This L'apres-midi d'un faune lacks focus, shape and range. The opening flute solo is gentle but not really expressif, and this sets the tone for a performance in which you feel the faun in his forest glade might hardly bother to open his eyes, much less think hardly bother to open his eyes, much less think of pursuing any passing nymphs. Ensemble is uneasy in places, e.g. between figs. 7 and 8, and here too the fortissimo climax is unrealized. Ashkenazy slows at the En animant of fig. 4 and does the same at the Meme mouvt. for the rich D flat major melody, while conversely the Tres lent et tres retenu final page is at the same pace as the start. The first oboist is a little too penetrating to blend, while the two solo violins are so forwardly balanced and the leader rather covers the tres doux clarinet and flute solos before fig. 8 and they stand out even when again in unison with the rest six bars from the end.
Again, in the Nocturnes Ashkenazy does not seem really inside the music. Comparison with the searching and well recorded Haitink on Philips makes him seem colourless, though he does convey the energy of ''Fetes'' if not all its dance quality. ''Sirenes'' begins with the choir singing near-quavers for acciaccaturas and generally lacks tension, with the voices too distant to have impact. Here as elsewhere in this issue Ashkenazy fails to observe some of the composer's markings (e.g. the Serrez at fig. 8 followed by Retenu, avec force) in a way that makes one begin to wonder wheter he has even considered them, and the spine-tingling passage at fig. 10 passes almost unnoticed.
La mer also reveals the conductor's inability to encompass Debussy's wide-ranging moods and this symphonic masterpiece needs more subtlety than he gives it, for example in dynamics, texture and tempo. How can Ashkenazy simply ignore theCedes un peu... au Mouvt. (peu a peu) ... Cedez after fig. 21 in the ''Jeux de vagues'', and give the Anime at fig. 33 the same tempo as the rest? In a concert these Nocturnes and La mer would be a disappointment; on record they are not competitive in the company of Previn's fine and balanced account on EMI, the sensitive though perhaps too sensationally recorded Tilson Thomas on CBS and the thoughtful and refined (but for me rather understated) Davis on Philips. I am sorry to be so critical here of Ashkenazy, a major artist I greatly admire, but on the evidence of this record this repertory is not yet for him.'
Again, in the Nocturnes Ashkenazy does not seem really inside the music. Comparison with the searching and well recorded Haitink on Philips makes him seem colourless, though he does convey the energy of ''Fetes'' if not all its dance quality. ''Sirenes'' begins with the choir singing near-quavers for acciaccaturas and generally lacks tension, with the voices too distant to have impact. Here as elsewhere in this issue Ashkenazy fails to observe some of the composer's markings (e.g. the Serrez at fig. 8 followed by Retenu, avec force) in a way that makes one begin to wonder wheter he has even considered them, and the spine-tingling passage at fig. 10 passes almost unnoticed.
La mer also reveals the conductor's inability to encompass Debussy's wide-ranging moods and this symphonic masterpiece needs more subtlety than he gives it, for example in dynamics, texture and tempo. How can Ashkenazy simply ignore the
Debussy: Orchestral Works
Debussy: Orchestral Works
Debussy: Orchestral Works
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