Impressive as Decca’s ffrr recording was for its period, and vivid as the present transfers are, there is a note understandably added here about the very opening of this first of Munch’s recordings of Daphnis – “Noise at start of Track 1 as original master”. Certainly the low string tremolo makes a curious growl, and by ffrr standards the bass is unexpectedly light, making for shallowness, but the detail and depth of focus are remarkable, with “Lever du jour” matching later Munch readings in warmth, and with the final “Danse generale” given tremendous thrust. The recording was made at Walthamstow in October 1946, and that of La valse under Ansermet in London’s Kingsway Hall followed a year later, when the orchestra was again on tour. There the sound is fuller in the bass with even greater clarity, but the brass sound is harsh. More seriously, under Ansermet the ensemble is rough in a work that cries out for virtuoso treatment.
He is far stronger in Sheherazade, recorded with the same orchestra in Paris in May 1948. With Danco enunciating the text to bring out every word, it is a taut and purposeful rather than an atmospheric reading. Her bright soprano is charming in a tangily French-sounding way, even if one misses the softer tones. The conductor in Ma mere l’oye is Sidney Beer with the orchestra he himself assembled from among London’s leading players of the time, many still in the forces. If the opening “Pavane”, taken slowly, sounds very stodgy after Munch or Ansermet, the other five movements are delightfully done, with plenty of excellent solo work, and with the final “Le jardin feerique” rapt in concentration.'