A cordial welcome to this release, which makes a good impression at once with its sound, recorded in a church in South London under the direction of Brian Culverhouse. With a body of nine bowed strings and Caryl Thomas's harp balanced naturally against them, the Debussy Danses are delicately sonorous and the performance here is as quietly characteristic as one could wish, with just the right touch of archaism. Perhaps the bass should be lighter, but I found this playing very pleasing and offering a real sense of magic. The same composer's Sonata for flute viola and harp is a masterpiece of nearly unbearable beauty: Debussy himself called it ''terribly sad... how much there is to discover, and then to suppress, before reaching the naked flesh of emotion''. The youngish performers here bring sensitivity as well as skill to this music and if Yuko Inoue's viola is at times a trifle trenchant (e g. in the finale) that is better than understatement. She is also expressive and blends well stylistically with Caryl Thomas and the flautist Richard Blake whose instrument is particularly good in the low register that is such a feature of the work.
The Ravel Introduction and Allegro is another delicate musical bloom that needs tender yet positive interpretative handling, and here too I am impressed by a performance that combines strength with tonal refinement and subtlety of delivery—although in such a miraculous passage as the one in E flat minor starting at 3'30'' I would like more ethereality, and I feel generally in this work that the artists are a little closely recorded. Roussel's Serenade is an attractive piece that many collectors will have got to know through a famous Melos Ensemble LP that also contained the Ravel and the Debussy Sonata. This last appeared as Decca «» 414 063-1DJ (12/84 nla); here it receives a witty and alert performance with a right measure of charm.
As it happens, the Melos Ensemble's Decca performance of the Ravel Introduction and Allegro listed here as an alternative, is the one which appeared in the collection mentioned above. This recent CD (which doesn't give the names of all the artists and should do so) also contains their wonderful performance of the Debussy trio sonata plus the Debussy and Ravel violin sonatas played in 1977 by Kyung Wha Chung and Radu Lupu. The Melos Ravel goes back to the early 1960s but I agree with JM-C that the sound has come up ''with pristine freshness'' and this must still be my favourite performance of a favourite work. I liked the one on Erato/RCA with Lily Laskine, too when I first heard it last year, and I still do for its rich persuasiveness. However, although it is generously coupled with the string quartets of Debussy and Ravel I shall always return to the Melos on Decca for a performance of the Introduction and Allegro that flows even more naturally and has fragile beauty and exquisite sadness in exactly the right proportions.'