Those who heard the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under Lan Shui at the
Henry Wood Proms earlier this year will know what a superb outfit they now
are. There are few more demanding – or competitive – areas of repertoire
than these great Debussy masterpieces, so how do these Singaporeans compare
with the acknowledged masters, from Monteux to Dutoit? Very favourably, is
the answer.
The SACD sound is frankly sensational, and all the teeming detail of
Debussy’s scoring can be heard as I have rarely experienced it on disc. One
or two examples will suffice; very near the start of ‘L’après-midi’ there
are some harp arpeggios, rising and falling quite softly. Here, they glisten
magically, and what’s more, for the first time I was aware that every little
note in those arpeggios is repeated — enharmonically if we want to get
technical. If that sounds insignificant, it really is not, for this whole
introductory passage is full of ‘magic casements opening’ in this way, and
it sets the mood for the entire work.
Then in the second part of ‘Ibéria’ - itself the second of the three
‘Images’ for orchestra (tr. 3, at around 0:52 to 1:20) - there are sliding
chromatic scales in woodwind, with violin glissandos in the background; all
part of Debussy’s evocation of Spain’s ‘perfumes of the night’. Another
astonishing piece of musical imagery that borders on synaesthesia.
To be fair, much of the credit for these beauties must go to the players
and their conductor; but the recording captures their artistry with
breath-taking clarity.
The downside, and it’s not on the whole a serious one, is that some of
Debussy’s important statements do not stand out sufficiently starkly, and
risk being masked by the welter of gorgeous detail. Oddly enough, several
trumpet motifs in the finale of ‘La Mer’ suffer from this, as does some
woodwind detail in the middle movement, ‘Jeux de vagues’.
Those few drawbacks are unimportant compared to the great positives to be
found here. All of the ‘Images’ are characterised superbly, with the elusive
dance of ‘Gigues’ — Debussy’s picture of the misty English landscape — full
of subtle nuance. The second of the ‘Images’ is a three-movement work in
itself, ‘Ibéria’; now we are in Spain, and once again, the scene-painting is
captivating. In the final movement, ‘Le matin d’un jour de fête’ (‘The
morning of a festival’), found on track 4, at around 1:20 Debussy gets the
whole string section to play sumptuous plucked chords, like a huge guitar,
followed soon after by a folk-like melody piped out shrilly by the
clarinets. Again, all the details of tone-colour are to be heard clear as
crystal, so important in this vividly descriptive score. For me, the most
intensely satisfying and enjoyable track on the disc is the final ‘Image’,
called ‘Rondes de printemps’ (‘Spring Rounds’). Even for Debussy, this work
seems to enter new worlds of subtlety of orchestral timbre.
‘La Mer’ has become one of the most frequently recorded of twentieth
century works, and it does take something very special for a recording to
stand out from the pack. In the context of this CD, Lan Shui’s ‘La mer’
does have that something special. He is helped here, as elsewhere,
by the sheer quality of the BIS recording. Then again, the playing of the
Singapore Symphony is incredibly responsive to the possibilities lurking in
every corner of Debussy’s score, and the work’s extremities are compellingly
realised. There are places, however, where Lan Shui allows himself to linger
too much, and risks losing crucial momentum. This happens once or twice in
the great final movement, ‘Dialogue of the wind and the sea’ (track 9), most
seriously at around 6:45, where the brakes are slammed on mercilessly, with
little or no regard for Debussy’s very careful tempo markings.
Fortunately, though, self-indulgent moments such as that are few and far
between, and this is a performance that will thrill and inspire, with
moments of tranquil lyricism and others of exhilarating abandon.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
Previous review: Dan Morgan
