Debussy / Ravel: Shéhérazade / Le Tombeau de Couperin

This CD fills in the gaps in Pierre Boulez’s survey of the major orchestral works of Debussy and Ravel. These records rarely stray far from my CD player; I think that they will be seen as among the most valuable things in le maître’s recorded legacy. Quite why DG sat on the new recording for five years before bothering to issue it in Europe is anyone’s guess. Anyway, here it is, and it was worth the wait. Boulez opts for a mezzo, Anne Sofie von Otter, in Shéhérazade. Occasionally, a beat enters her voice above the stave, particularly noticeable on the climactic B flat on ‘haine’, but in general she sounds comfortable with the wide range of Asie, and she is as seductive as any singer I’ve come across. Régine Crespin (a lyric soprano) recorded what has come to be seen as the classic version, but her accompanists, Ansermet’s Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, are no match for Boulez’s fabulous Clevelanders.

Alison Hagley gives an exquisite account of Debussy’s Trois Ballades de François Villon; Boulez’s witty take on the garrulous Ballade des femmes de Paris belies his unsmiling platform manner. The famous Pavane is a joy, and, surprisingly, the neo-classical Tombeau de Couperin finds Boulez at his most charmingly affectionate, once you’ve heard what he does with the ‘middle eight’ of the Forlane you’ll never get it out of your head. Roger Nichols’ essay on ‘Exotic and Nostalgic Dreamworks’ neatly ties the varied works together. Put this on the top of your ‘wants’ list!

About the conductor and orchestra

Pierre Boulez’s decades-long survey of Debussy and Ravel’s orchestral works, recorded piecemeal for CBS/Sony and later Deutsche Grammophon across different orchestras, is widely regarded as one of the reference points for both composers on record, notable for a clarity of texture that reflects Boulez’s own background as a composer working in the same French tradition. The Cleveland Orchestra, his partner on this disc, had a particularly close relationship with Boulez dating back to guest engagements in the 1960s, well before his tenure with the New York Philharmonic and later the Chicago Symphony; that familiarity is often cited as part of why the Cleveland recordings in this cycle sit among its most admired instalments.