Debussy La Mer: favourite recordings

[BBMmk2]

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

I have the recording. You won’t be disappointed!

[silvestrione]

Yes, the Abbado is superb. Like all fine performances, leaves you marvelling afresh at the music. For Abbado, the climax is very much at the very end! Sometimes the grandeur and power of the end of (I) is not matched later. Such vivid drama all through (I) and (III), and sense of inexhaustible perspectives, and mystery.

I just felt the middle movement did not go quite so well...seemed rushed (not borne out by timings!), and a little too much mf, and not so supple as the Halle/Elder, for example.

[BBMmk2]

Yes, the Abbado is superb. Like all fine performances, leaves you marvelling afresh at the music. For Abbado, the climax is very much at the very end! Sometimes the grandeur and power of the end of (I) is not matched later. Such vivid drama all through (I) and (III), and sense of inexhaustible perspectives, and mystery.

I just felt the middle movement did not go quite so well...seemed rushed (not borne out by timings!), and a little too much mf, and not so supple as the Halle/Elder, for example.

I’ll have a listen to that later!

[Richard Barrett]

Sometimes the grandeur and power of the end of (I) is not matched later. Such vivid drama all through (I) and (III), and sense of inexhaustible perspectives, and mystery.

Exactly!

[Barbirollians]

The Munch is wonderfully atmospheric - but in a clear sparkly way unlike the foreboding of the Barbirolli for example.

[jayne lee wilson]

As I said a few weeks ago....
Debussy
La Mer. Anima Eterna Brugge/Immerseel. ZZT CD.
.....Keep returning to this marvellously rugged, elemental recording..shame RC didn't comment on it in his recent survey....

[Beef Oven!]

As I said a few weeks ago....
Debussy
La Mer. Anima Eterna Brugge/Immerseel. ZZT CD.
.....Keep returning to this marvellously rugged, elemental recording..shame RC didn't comment on it in his recent survey....

Not a patch on the F-X Roth, Elder or Tabachnik. But it is a strong contender for fourth position among relatively recent releases.

[jayne lee wilson]

Not a patch on the F-X Roth, Elder or Tabachnik. But it is a strong contender for fourth position among relatively recent releases.

Elle est retrouvée,
Quoi ? — L'Éternité.
C'est La Mer allée
Avec Immerseel
et
le soleil.

(Mes excuses, M. Rimbaud...)

[BBMmk2]

Not a patch on the F-X Roth, Elder or Tabachnik. But it is a strong contender for fourth position among relatively recent releases.

I’ll have to familiarise my myself with the Roth. Tabachnik, never heard of.

[Beef Oven!]

I’ll have to familiarise my myself with the Roth. Tabachnik, never heard of.

I think it was HighlandDougie who drew my attention to Tabachnik on this Forum. The La Mer recording is really worth searching out. Tabachnik was a protégé of Igor Markevitch, Herbert von Karajan and Pierre Boulez!

[BBMmk2]

I think it was HighlandDougie who drew my attention to Tabachnik on this Forum. The La Mer recording is really worth searching out. Tabachnik was a protégé of Igor Markevitch, Herbert von Karajan and Pierre Boulez!

With that pedigree behind him, yes, worthwhile looking up.

[Beef Oven!]

With that pedigree behind him, yes, worthwhile looking up.

I'd recommend you do. I find it a very interesting performance. I often struggle with performances of La Mer because they can be too focused on the impressionist aspect of the music and almost ignore the clear rhythmic path that is there. Tabachnik gets this right for me from the word go. Also, the dynamics can be overdone to the point of cliché (even in my beloved Karajan recordings), something that Tabachnik seems to have perfect judgement in.

It's worth saying something about the BRT Brussels. To my ears they are an excellent orchestra. I have long owned Naxos recordings with Alexander Rahbari conducting them in Bartók and Debussy. Fabulous performances.

This current CD does not get much of a thumbs up from the usual music reviewers, something that makes me wonder whether they listen properly or even make their minds up before they have listened to the CD.

[Richard Barrett]

Tabachnik was a protégé of Igor Markevitch, Herbert von Karajan and Pierre Boulez!

- and also conducted some of the best recordings of Xenakis' orchestral/choral music that have been made so far. He was apparently also a leader of an obscure cult called the "Order of the Solar Temple" which was involved in some bizarre ritual murders and mass suicides in the mid-1990s. Although he was cleared twice of any wrongdoing, his reputation seems never to have recovered.

[Beef Oven!]

- and also conducted some of the best recordings of Xenakis' orchestral/choral music that have been made so far. He was apparently also a leader of an obscure cult called the "Order of the Solar Temple" which was involved in some bizarre ritual murders and mass suicides in the mid-1990s. Although he was cleared twice of any wrongdoing, his reputation seems never to have recovered.

In all my Xenakis hunting, I've never come across Tabachnik.

I referenced the cult in an earlier link, but decided to delete it.

[Richard Barrett]

Here are a few Tabachnik Xenakis performances:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPNhyzfx5oM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev7E2KDW6Zw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNd81WWYgYE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Txie4lAMk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYiKqrKXdhg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdrSBU8qd3Q

I did mention the cult by way of explaining why he isn't better known these days. Before the 1990s he was a major figure in contemporary music.