After my rather severe review of these artists’ recent Erato disc of Chabrier and Ravel (8/00), I am happy to say that this one is a great deal more to my taste.
Ibert and Ravel were close friends and almost undoubtedly the younger man picked up many a tip on orchestration from his elder colleague. Not that his sound is anything like Ravel’s but, as the writer’s note indicates, they shared a penchant for contrasting colours and for keeping the orchestral families distinct from each other. These colours are clearly relished in this recording, with some particularly impressive stratospheric playing from the first fiddles.
We all know the Divertissement, that late spin-off from the crazy spirit of the ’20s. Here Sado does what has to be done. It’s easy to hear too why Escales caused such a stir at its Paris premiere in 1924: was Ibert to be a major force in the post-war musical renewal of French music? Not really, as it turned out. But his blend of traditional tunes and rhythms, intriguing textures, and harmonies that were occasionally curious but never seriously disorientating has always ensured his music a hearing. This disc may not provide you with any profound spiritual experience but it has many charming and even beautiful moments, notably the slow tune in Ouverture de fete, a French government commission to mark the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of the Japanese Empire in 1940. No pentatonics or celestas, praise be.'