Comparison Recordings:
La Mer:
Fritz Reiner, CSO [ADD] RCA BMG Sony SACD 82876-71614-2
Charles Munch, Boston SO
[ADD] RCA BMG Sony SACD 82876-61387-2
Herbert Von Karajan, BPO, [ADD] DGG Galleria
427 250-2
Trois Nocturnes:
Antal Dorati, Minneapolis SO Mercury Living Presence
mono LP [OP]
Leopold Stokowski, LSO,
BBC women’s chorus EMI CDC-7 47423 2
André Previn, RPO EMI CDE 67770
Prélude
à l’après-midi d’un faune:
Herbert von Karajan, BPO [ADD] DGG Galleria
427 250-2
Leopold Stokowski, his
SO, Julius Baker. [1957 ADD] EMI 67313
Leopold Stokowski, LSO
[1972 ADD color video] EMI “classical archive” DVD DVA 4928429
Leopold Stokowski, NBC
SO [1943 mono ADD] CALA CACD 0526
Images pour orchestre:
Charles Munch, Boston SO
RCA BMG Sony SACD 82876-66374-2
Fritz Reiner (#2 only)
CSO RCA Gold Seal 60179-2-RG
André Previn, LSO EMI 47001
Saxophone Rhapsody and Clarinet
Rhapsody:
Leonard Bernstein, NYPO
CBS Masterworks LP MS 6059
Danses
sacrée et profane:
Ann Mason Stockton, harp;
Felix Slatkin, Concert Arts CO [mono ADD] Testament SBT 1053
Comparative
MusicWeb International reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Nov05/Debussy_Brilliant_92765.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/Jan03/debussy_ravel_martinon_emi.htm
Debussy’s death at 56, 25 years after Tchaikovky died at 53,
was not so tragically young as with some other composers. However
it was lingering and painful and sent shock-waves through the
musical community, resulting in, among other masterpieces, Sibelius’s
Fourth Symphony and Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind
Instruments. The Lesure catalog lists a total of 141 works
by Debussy, yet virtually every composer of his time and after*
was influenced by him.
When these recordings were
originally released in the United States, they appeared on “Angel”
LP pressings bereft of dynamic range as well as the bottom octave.
It didn’t help that some of them bore the circular emblem indicating
SQ quadrophonic playback. The rear channel information was so
subtle and low in volume that even with a state-of-the-art quad
system the ambient rear channel information was swamped by the
inherent system cross-talk and might as well not have been there.
In contrast, RCA Living Stereo offered La Mer and Images
by Reiner (No. 2 only) and Munch in full blooded sound and the
Dorati and Stokowski Nocturnes were available on other
labels. Needless to say, these Martinon recordings attracted
no attention, and the less well known works from these sessions
were never released in the U.S. at all.
But here finally they appear
on a nearly level playing field and can be appreciated on both
sides of the Atlantic for their true excellence in performance
and sonic quality and completeness of repertoire.
Munch’s Images is
among the very finest versions of these works, especially on
SACD, with Dutoit and Previn earning honorable mention for complete
sets. Reiner, van Beinum, and Stokowski, among others, only
ever recorded No. 2, “Ibèria,” admittedly very well, but that
isn’t how Debussy wanted you to hear them. Watch for Reiner’s
“Ibèria” to appear as an SACD any day now.
When Nadezhda von Meck
wanted a music teacher for her children she didn’t choose her
ward Tchaikovsky. When she engaged Debussy, she should have
listened to the rumors about him; he fell madly in love with
one of her daughters and asked for permission to court, with
the result that he was abruptly dismissed and sent away. The
daughters of Russian countesses do not marry randy unemployed
French musicians; that is very, very unsuitable. But, the episode
exposed Debussy to Russian music which changed his style dramatically
as he absorbed it.
Debussy must have known
Glazunov’s Morye (“La Mer”) Orchestral Fantasy in E,
Op 28, from 1889. The two works have a few strikingly similar
passages in common, perhaps no more than certain passages in
Mozart are like to passages in Beethoven; but the works differ
in mood and length. Glazunov and Debussy were both influenced
by Wagner. Did Glazunov know Debussy’s Printemps from
1886 when he wrote Vyesna (“Printemps”) Musical Picture
in D, Op 34, in 1891? Again, it seems likely. To dispute Thomas
Aquinas, some rivers flow both ways.
Since Debussy carefully
combed his hair to cover his high hairline - almost as high
as mine at his age - on the side toward the camera, he can be
presumed to be sensitive about his appearance. Debussy avoided
having his picture taken looking face on into the camera, but
always turned to the side, looking away. This can be explained
if his eyes diverged slightly, which can almost be seen if one
looks carefully at the photos. Taneyev on the other hand was
slightly cross-eyed, but he wasn’t vain and didn’t care who
knew it. What was undisguisable was his odd conically-shaped
head, rather flattened on top, which was actually accentuated
by his pointed goatee and his comb-over. In 1913 in Paris Debussy
was present at that amazingly violent premier of Stravinsky’s
Sacre du Printemps and, as we have all heard the story,
at the end of the piece was sobbing and saying over and over,
“he’s a genius”. However, later commentators have made it clear
that Debussy was really crying because he didn’t think to write
it himself; his ballet Jeux, premiered two weeks before,
had been catastrophically outclassed, and he was simply furious.
The four recordings of
La Mer considered here are very different from each other;
it’s at times difficult to believe they are playing from the
same score. Yet they are so near to each other in overall quality
of performance and sound that there is hardly an objective criterion
on which to distinguish them. If you love the music you will
want to hear them all, and if you must choose one, whichever
you buy will be completely satisfactory. It has been suggested
that Reiner’s and Karajan’s “sea” is the cold North Sea, whereas Munch and Martinon are presumably describing
the warm Mediterranean, but that is really as far as anyone can go. Reiner
and Munch appear on SACD, but Karajan and Martinon receive such
excellent re-mastering that the difference, while audible on
high-end equipment, is not musically significant.
In the Danses for
harp Martinon employs the full string section, whereas Slatkin
uses one instrument to a part. Both harpists play superbly,
but Ms. Jamet’s engineer has placed the microphone(s) so as
to emphasize her finger noises; this is the kind of thing only
critics will (or should) notice. Martinon plays with more passion
and dynamics, but Slatkin gets just a little more of a 1920s
pop music swing in the Danse profane, while his Danse
Sacrée is just the way Hildegarde of Bingen would want to
hear it.
One of the best ever Nocturnes
was with Dorati and the Minneapolis SO. His remake with the
[D.C. USA] National SO for Decca was predictably unremarkable.
There was an adolescent zaniness in those raucous Mercury recordings
which will never be heard again - and this one was never reissued
on CD - so Stokowski on EMI is probably the very best version
available in the outer movements, with Martinon best in the
central movement. Michael Tilson Thomas deserves honorable mention.
Debussy had originally
intended Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune** to be the
first of three pieces describing a faun’s erotic afternoon entertainments,
but this prelude said it all and he didn’t continue. In this
work as in the outer slow movements of the Nocturnes,
Stokowski is in his home element and is absolutely unbeatable,
although some may find these versions a little too high in calories
for everyday listening. From the depths of Polish/English mysticism
to a silk-draped bright meadow of French delicacy, to young
Siegfried in the Schwartzwald, the work can certainly benefit
from a variety of viewpoints. It is amazing today to realize
that audiences and critics once reacted with hostility and anger
to this beautiful and exquisitely crafted music.
Leonard Bernstein’s recordings
of the grand Romantic orchestral warhorses are controversial
- that is, I don’t care for most of them - but in two areas
— Joseph Haydn and modern French music — he was supreme. His
superb recordings of the two wind Rapsodies are unfortunately
not currently on CD, but we hope that will be remedied soon.
In the meantime, these Martinon recordings are excellent also.
In summary, these recordings
in their present form are as good or better than the best from
other sources, but in their present form constitute an amazing
bargain, so much so that anyone who loves this music should
buy them quickly while they’re still available.
Paul Shoemaker
* With the possible exception
of Shostakovich, but Shostakovich was influenced by Messiaen
who was influenced by Debussy. And Shostakovich was influenced
by Wagner, Offenbach, Glazunov, and Mussorgsky who also influenced
Debussy. So in the end it amounts to the same thing.
** A real finger-twister
of a title to type; we music writers keep it in our auto-text
folder, along with “l’Orchestre du Théâtre des Champs-Elysées,”
“Mieczyslaw Horszowski,” and “Erwin Nyiregyházi.”
