Debussy: Images/Prelude a l'Apres-Midi d'un Faune/La Mer

Edition: Audio CD Price: $11.98

Genre:  Classical  20th/21st Century Orchestral Music  Orchestral  Orchestral Music  Classical Music  Classical Composers Artists:  Claude Debussy  Esa-Pekka Salonen  Janet Ferguson  Los Angeles Philarmonic

Play all track samples  —  Stop Tracks: 1. Images pour orchestre: I - Gigues 2. Images pour orchestre: II - Iberia: Par les rues et par les chemins 3. Images pour orchestre: II - Iberia: Les Parfums de la nuit 4. Images pour orchestre: II - Iberia: Le Matin d'un jour de fete 5. Images pour orchestre: III - Rondes de printemps 6. Prelude a'l'apres-midi d'un faune 7. Le Mer - Trois Esquisses Symphoniques: I - De l'aube a midi sur la mer 8. Le Mer -Trois Esquisses Symphoniques: II- Jeuxde vagues 9. Le Mer - Trois Esquisses Symphoniques: III - Dialogue du vent et de la mer

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Editorial review:

This is the Debussy disc to buy if you're buying only one. All of the best and most popular orchestra music is here (the second of the "Images" is the well-known tone poem "Iberia"). Salonen must have the keenest ear in the business--no "impressionist" fuzz here. Musical textures are extraordinarily clear, but never at the expense of the music's natural sensuality. The Los Angeles Philharmonic has been playing at the very highest technical level ever since Esa-Pekka Salonen took over, and Sony has been documenting their work in top-quality sound. There are a lot of Debussy recordings, many of them very good, but it's hard to beat the all-around excellence of this one. --David Hurwitz

Customer reviews:

By far, a director above the average!

Esa Pekka Salonen is one of these few conductors gifted of that invisible touch of genius that may be felt since the first bars of this exigent composer. He confers this first rate orchestra an incorporeal density, hovered by a variegated blend of textures, suggestive visual landscapes, sensual lyrisicm and accurate expression. And here between you and me I must recognize that only three other conductors are in this reduced list, Arturo Toscanini (with the most radiant version of La Mer ever recorded), Leopold Stokowski and finally the talented director Michael Tilson Thomas from 1971 with the Boston Symphony(Who can match with his version of Prelude?).

Pekka remarked with visible knowledge of the sense of the score those suggestive musical moments, in which the inflections and changes of modulation are so neccesary in case you are really involved with spirit of this imaginative and well gifted composer.

Familiar Debussy

As a follow-up to a successful CD featuring lesser-known orchestral works by Claude Debussy, this disk features some of Debussy's most famous works with the Los Angeles Philharmonic playing under Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Images is a three-movement work, the first of which, Gigues, is a calm prelude to the rest of the piece. As the title might suggest, Gigues hints at some danciness, but overall represents a calm with typical Debussy orchestrations. The second movement, Iberia, is divided in three parts (Streets and Byways, Fragrance of the Night, and The Morning of a Festival). There are obvious references to Spain, especially rhythmically and through creative orchestration; but Debussy doesn't sacrifice his sound to overt Spanish-ness. Debussy depicts the bustling streets, the winds and chimes at night, and the awakening of a village for a festival, all with the Debussy touch. The final movement combines the lyrical with the rhythmical to give the entire work a grand conclusion. Debussy's sounds are always lush and intriguing, often calling on harps and bells, as well as special string effects, to create what we consider his "sound". This work exemplifies Debussy at his best.

The tone poem Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun put Debussy on the map. The opening chromatic melody and eventual harmonization is haunting; with modal progressions and interesting orchestrations. A true miniature masterpiece.

Debussy's love of the sea is greatly portrayed in the three-movement work La Mer. Debussy begins optimistically on a calm sea and moves into the second movement with a more joyous and happy jaunt on the ocean. It is not until the extroverted third movement when the seas become more stormy. But still, the view is still upbeat, and the work ends with a feeling of renewed grandeur. A popular work for a reason, La Mer is the epitome of Debussy's expressiveness, descriptiveness, and inventiveness in music portraits.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic again plays excellently; still vibrant and vivid. Salonen pays close attention to detail in the score and the listener can feel the great love the musicians have of the music. You will have to compare on your own this Sony Debussy collection to the series on DG under Pierre Boulez, a consummate Debussy interpreter. Both are good editions to have, the choice is yours.

Enervated Debussy in amazing sound

Salonen and the L.A. Phil. have been making a series of sonically spectacular 20-bit recordings (most of them needing corporate subsidy since they don't sell very well, even in L.A.) For this recording of Debussy staples the orchestra went to the Todd A-O studio in Hollywood, and the result is a fantastically detailed soundscape with enticing clarity and great impact.

Musically, however, I found little to appreciate. For Salonen, who models himslf as a post-modern conductor, it goes without saying that deep expressiveness and romanticism are taboo. But here he seems to think that Debussy is a stylistic zero. Aside from precise articulation, this music has nothing to say. Salonen's tempos are slow on the whole, but more than that they are shapeless. Events follow one another without any apparent joy or enthusiasm. So for me this was a Clockwork Orange kind of experience--hip, empty, and apathetic.