Debussy La Mer: favourite recordings

[Beef Oven!]

Yes, I downloaded the Elder from the Chandos site. It's very fine, and will be near the top of my list now.

Certainly it's up there.

I wonder, with such space around all the instruments and the harp almost in the room, such transparency, is that a mite artificial? Recorded in a Studio, I see....

Very transparent, but to my ear, not unnaturally mixed. To me it sounded very concert hall.

I also miss a little of the abandon and drive you can find elsewhere. 'Drive' wrong word: sense of symphonic development? 'Symphonic sketches' after all.

I'm not quite understanding the abandon criticism that some forumites are getting. What do we mean, exactly? I found more momentum in this performance than I'm used to. And this contributed to my perception of a more symphonic rendition than I expected.

The famous Haitink and Karajan (60s) have a more natural, concert hall balance. I have ordered the Abbado as well. Rob Cowan was so positive about so many recordings, I could have ordered half a dozen!

I must return soon to that Karajan, I've played the later version exclusively this year and uncle Bernie is a must!

[Beef Oven!]

as in "raving mad"?

I think that's the normal meaning!

[silvestrione]

Ah yes, a drive that creates exhilaration!

In what concert hall would you hear the harp like that (unless you were sitting just behind the orchestra on that side!)? But, I'll have another listen, I may be making too much of this. I did love the harp, of course, but wondered whether it was distracting me from the overall sweep, the way, for example, ii ends suddenly so beautifully (in Haitink and Karajan: Ashkenazy also luxuriates in it).

[Bryn]

I don't know whether it will become a favourite or not but the Ormandy Planets/La Mer DVD was delivered about half an hour ago. Having rejected the presumably fake surround options in favour of the 2 channel LPCM offering, I am now under way and the sun is steadily rising as the morning heads towards noon. Very much the fresh water Delaware, rather than salt-water of La Manche at Eastbourne but certainly it's played with great aplomb.

[jayne lee wilson]

as in "raving mad"?

.....speak or write about someone or something with great enthusiasm or admiration.
"New York's critics raved about the acting"

It began as crazy talk but evolved into very enthusiastic talk ..(taking in ecstatic partying along the way). The ME roots probably came from earlier French and German words for to be senseless, etc.

As for "vividly" Alain, I was using it to describe the sound that Elder drew from the Hallé, although the response it drew from me was undoubtedly vivified...

[Beef Oven!]

* question for the pedants. Can one hear vividly? Is the English derivation similar to vif? Corrigez-moi svp.

If we can have "bovine immediacy", "uncannily preternaturally clear" and "too loosely collegiate", then we bloody-well can hear 'vividly'

[gurnemanz]

Two comments:

1) Raving. Reminds me of one of my favourite pop songs from my teenage years in the 60s.

"Wouldn't it be nice to get on with me neighbours
But they make it very clear
They've got no room for ravers"

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

2) Hearing can be vivid. Today, following up on this thread, I played Haitink and Karajan (1965) in La Mer. Haitink won by a neck in beautifully vivid sound.

[Beef Oven!]

Two comments:

1) Raving. Reminds me of one of my favourite pop songs from my teenage years in the 60s.

"Wouldn't it be nice to get on with me neighbours
But they make it very clear
They've got no room for ravers"

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

2) Hearing can be vivid. Today, following up on this thread, I played Haitink and Karajan (1965) in La Mer. Haitink won by a neck in beautifully vivid sound.

There was a Mrs Jones in my road when I was a kid and whenever I saw her I said "Hello Mrs Jones, how's your Bert's lumbago?" Her husband did have lumbago, but his name wasn't Bert! She always gave me a look as if I were an idiot, which I was. Possibly still am. She obviously hadn't heard the song, even though it was almost impossible to avoid back then. I didn't know what lumbago was until I was much older and it was an anti-climax!

[Beresford]

Also a great favourite of mine, particularly if preceded by L’apres-midi, the two works just fit together. Both works have been very well served by recordings and as a result I have difficulty in selecting a best. The EMI Giulini, Martinon, Abbado live from Lucerne... the list goes on. There is a remarkably good one on Naxos, which was a charity shop buy, by Rabhari.....

I've just caught up with the Rabhari, and it is very likeable and unmannered - not quite usurping the Giulini/Philharmonia - my first love - as a student I bought the LP because of the cover! And the Fournet (the “gentle perfectionist”) is a bit more exciting, with better audio quality, but very unappealing Sirenes in the accompanying Nocturnes. Unlike the Sirenes in Prom 44, the CBSO youth chorus, who were more convincing than most to my ears.

Many more recent recordings of La Mer praised in this thread seem to impose the conductor's drama on top of Debussy's musical drama. Rob Cowan's choices even more so, but he often goes for the big emotional conductors. There are so many different styles of presenting Debussy, each interesting in their own way. Michael Tilson Thomas produces a sound quite like Giulini; same orchestra perhaps.

[Bryn]

I don't yet know whether it will turn out to be a favourite, but the Tabachnik Debussy CD with La Mer on it just dropped through my letterbox. It will be next up for a spin but will have to wait until after the 1 o'clock News.

[I can hear why the Radio France 'jury' came down in favour of this one. Tabachnik and the Orchestra really get to grips with Debussy's muse. WOrth checking out Tabachnik's views on Debussy (and Dufourt):

Be warned, however, the Fêtes of Nocturnes is somewhat pedestrian. Not quite up to the standrd set in La Mer.

[Barbirollians]

The Halle/Elder is very fine indeed.

The excellent ODP/Barbirolli account was on a Royal Classics CD coupled not only with Nocturnes but the Cluytens recording of Jeux . An excellent collection.

[BBMmk2]

The Halle/Elder is very fine indeed.

The excellent ODP/Barbirolli account was on a Royal Classics CD coupled not only with Nocturnes but the Cluytens recording of Jeux . An excellent collection.

I quite enjoy that one too!

[Richard Barrett]

This morning I listened to the live 2003 Abbado Lucerne recording, having previously only experienced it on Youtube in video form. It certainly doesn't sound like anyone else's. I've read some reviews which question his adherence to the score in some important matters of dynamics, but I think in some cases that's force of habit on the reviewer's part rather than anything else. You expect the brass entry one bar before figure 15 almost at the end of the first movement to sweep everything else out of the way, but actually the upper woodwinds in the first two beats of the bar have exactly the same dynamic (f < più f) as the brass so what Abbado does is entirely justifiable, if somewhat unfamiliar. Having heard the closing pages of the first movement balanced in this way I have the feeling that the usual way of doing it might seem banal in comparison. And the whole performance is suffused by things like this.

[Bryn]

This morning I listened to the live 2003 Abbado Lucerne recording, having previously only experienced it on Youtube in video form. It certainly doesn't sound like anyone else's. I've read some reviews which question his adherence to the score in some important matters of dynamics, but I think in some cases that's force of habit on the reviewer's part rather than anything else. You expect the brass entry one bar before figure 15 almost at the end of the first movement to sweep everything else out of the way, but actually the upper woodwinds in the first two beats of the bar have exactly the same dynamic (f < più f) as the brass so what Abbado does is entirely justifiable, if somewhat unfamiliar. Having heard the closing pages of the first movement balanced in this way I have the feeling that the usual way of doing it might seem banal in comparison. And the whole performance is suffused by things like this.

My copy of the Abbado/LFO, Barenboim/CSO and Ormandy/PO + La Mer associated documentaries DVDs arrived in the post today. I look forward to viewing/listening them later today.

[silvestrione]

Yes my copy of the Abbado arrived yesterday. Now I'm really looking forward to it! Thanks Richard.