MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS
Downloads from The Classical Shop

Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
Images pour Orchestre (1905-1912)*[35:55]
Jeux (1912-1913) [17:32]
Nocturnes - À Georges Hartmann (1897-1899)** [24:13]  
La mer - Trois Esquisses symphoniques (1903-1905) [23:58]
Prélude à l'aprês-midi d'un faune (1891-1894) [10:14]
Marche écossaise sur un thème populaire (1890) [6:32]
Printemps - Suite symphonique (1887) [15:12]
Two movements fromL'Enfant prodigue - Scène lyrique (1884, rev. 1907-1908) [7:04]
Berceuse héroïque - pour rendre Hommage à S.M. le Roi Albert 1er de Belgique et à ses Soldats (1914) [4:34]
*Katherine MacKintosh (oboe d'amore); Katherine Bryan (flute)
**Women of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus/Timothy Dean;
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Stéphane Denève
rec. 10-12 October 2011, 7-9 February 2012, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, UK
CHANDOS CHSA 5102 (2) [77:04 + 68:22]

Experience Classicsonline

Now this really is a competitive field; we already have sets of Debussy’s orchestral music from Jean Martinon (EMI), Ernest Ansermet (Decca), Bernard Haitink (Philips) and Jun Mārkl (Naxos). The first three are deserving classics, and the fourth - a 9-CD box that includes music orchestrated and arranged by other hands - has some good things in it (review). I’ve also had the pleasure of hearing a high-resolution download from Universal/Linn of Ansermet’s Debussy; I marvelled at his way with this music, and at the skill of Decca’s engineers and re-mastering team (review).
 
Stéphane Denève hasn't made much of an impact on me, although I do admire his recording of pieces by Guillaume Connesson (Chandos CHSA 5076). From that it’s clear this conductor has a strong, even forceful, musical style that may not make him an obvious choice for Debussy. As for the RSNO, they’re in fine fettle at the moment, their collection of Saint-Saëns - with Neeme Jārvi - very welcome indeed (review). Given the hype surrounding M. Denève I approached his Debussy with some caution. For quick reference I dug out Haitink, Ansermet and Mārkl and pressed play.
 
The first disc opens with Images, of which the lovely ‘Gigues’ gets a strong, no-nonsense reading. The sound is reasonably detailed and weighty although - in stereo at least - it strikes me as a trifle ‘flat’ compared with other recordings from this team and venue. By contrast Haitink is much more upfront, and his control of dynamics is more subtle and intuitive. As for the RSNO, they play very well; in fact, they’re every bit as poised and polished as their Dutch counterparts. The first part of ‘Ibéria’ is especially fine, the perfumed night of the second warm and sensuous. The rocking rhythms of the third, ‘Le matin d’un jour de la fête’, are nicely sprung - I love those gentle bells - and ‘Rondes de Printemps’ is immaculately done.
 
Everything is in its place, so why do I feel so disengaged? Listening to Haitink I had my answer: for all his technical prowess Denève lacks the Dutchman’s fine shading and his remarkable ear for Debussian textures. Few composers beckon one into their sound-world as seductively as Debussy, and it’s that sense of complete surrender I miss in Denève’s otherwise impressive Images. That said, Jeux starts well enough - the playing is very nimble and precise - but it’s not long before I’m wool-gathering again. A quick comparison with Ansermet and Haitink just confirms Denève’s cool proficiency at the expense of essential wit and warmth.
 
This is most disconcerting, especially when the playing is of such quality. Just sample Nocturnes and I doubt you’ll hear more seamless and elegant performances of these pieces anywhere. Denève shapes ‘Sirènes’ beautifully, and the women’s chorus is ideally distant and most atmospherically recorded. This really is gorgeous; now if only one could marry this orchestra and singers with Haitink’s unaffected musicianship this would be a truly splendid set of Nocturnes.
 
The second CD begins with La mer, one of Debussy’s most astonishing creations. As ever Denève is up against stiff competition here, not least from Ansermet and, more recently, Lan Shui and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (review). The latter - helped by a top-notch Super Audio recording - really brings out the shimmer and sparkle of this piece. Ansermet is only slightly less beguiling, and as good as the vintage Decca sound is Chandos do the composer proud. I just wish I could say the same about Denève; his meticulous attention to detail is impressive, but what should be a complex, living seascape remains stubbornly one-dimensional.
 
The Prélude à l'aprês-midi d'un faune was one of the least appealing items in Märkl’s big box; unlovely and unsubtle it’s an object lesson in how not to play this miraculous piece. Even though I’m not a great admirer of Herbert von Karajan his first DG recording of the Prélude is Desert Island fare. Ansermet isn’t far behind, the detail of that high-res download making it seem every bit the seminal 20th-century work it is. Both conductors shape and project the music superbly, each revealing a sure sense of its structure. By contrast Denève’s Prélude is surprisingly recessed, much of the finer detail lost in the orchestral murk. The broad brush-strokes are clear enough, but ultimately it’s all too contrived.
 
Actually that's a pretty good description of Denève’s Debussy as a whole, a criticism that one could hardly level at Martinon, Haitink or Ansermet. He’s not alone in this, for I find Vasily Petrenko’s Shostakovich (Naxos) is similarly proficient yet lacking in substance and insight. Denève’s Marche écossaise is crisp and clear-eyed, while Printemps - in Henri Büsser’s orchestration - is at once sumptuous and delicately scored. It’s full of ear-pricking touches, yet it’s oddly uninvolving. Ditto the two movements from L'Enfant prodigue, the ‘Air de danse’light but ultimately charmless.
 
Comparing Haitink’s and Denève’s Berceuse héroïque might tilt the balance in the latter’s favour but not by much. The Frenchman certainly has the better recording and he does coax fine sounds from his players. Regrettably I can’t say more than that, as the end result is inexplicably bland. Which isn’t unexpected after more than two hours of the most uncommunicative Debussy I’ve heard in ages. Even this SACD isn’t up to the usual standards of the house; the Prélude is especially opaque.
 
Outwardly brilliant, inwardly dull. Perplexing.
 
Dan Morgan
http://twitter.com/mahlerei  

see also reviews by Dominy Clements (June 2012 Recording of the Month)
and Simon Thompson
(July 2012 Recording of the Month)

Masterwork Index: La mer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Error processing SSI file