Your favorite Debussy Orchestral Recordings

[George]

Having recently developed a big interest in recordings of these works, I wanted to ask you guys for your favorites.

As of now I have:

Martinon - Brilliant Classsics/EMI
Haitink - 2CD set
Karajan 60s - 1 CD

[Mandryka]

La Mer - Robin Ticciati, Evgeni Svetlanav live (ICA) 
Nocturnes -- Michel Tabachnik
Jeux -- Rattle (CBSO), Gielen, Jun Markl,

[Roasted Swan]

Having recently developed a big interest in recordings of these works, I wanted to ask you guys for your favorites.

As of now I have:

Martinon - Brilliant Classsics/EMI
Haitink - 2CD set
Karajan 60s - 1 CD

You can't go wrong with any of those!  I love the old Czech PO/Supraphon discs with Jean Fournet and Serge Baudo too - lovely mellow wind and brass suits this repertoire



for more modern sound there are a lot of choices. Deneve on Chandos is pretty good



and covers all the main things as does Shui in Singapore for BIS

[Todd]

La Mer - Toscanini/BBCSO; Monteux/BSO; Boulez/Cleveland

Images - MTT/SFSO; Munch/BSO

Nocturnes - Salonen (accept no substitutes)

Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune - Previn/LSO; Boulez/Cleveland

[ritter]

My favourite complete(ish) traversals of Debussy's orchestral music are:

Pierre Boulez's first recordings (i.e., the ones on CBS / Sony). Various iterations on CD, of which the below image corresponds to the first one:



Manuel Rosenthal's recordings from the late 50s with the Paris Opera Orchestra. They were collected in this wonderful compilation:



For Jeux, Bruno Maderna's live recording with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra:



The Maderna Jeux, and most (if not all) of the Rosenthal recordings are on YouTube.

[Brian]

I love the Czech recordings, the Salonen Nocturnes, but also the Abbado/Boston Nocturnes. Didn't MTT do some awesome Debussy in Boston? I guess I recommend the Czech Philharmonic and Boston Symphony in general 

MTT did a great La Boite a Joujoux and there is a fun Vasily Petrenko concept album with Debussy's early piece Printemps, a Rachmaninov Spring work, and the Stravinsky Rite.

Martinon is great too of course.

[Todd]

Didn't MTT do some awesome Debussy in Boston?

Yes, and his SFSO Images is awesomer still.

[ritter]

I love the Czech recordings...

Talking about Czech recordings, there's a great La Mer with the legendary Roger Desormière from 1950. Included in this valuable set:

Martinon is great too of course.

I know I'm a minority, but I find Martinon lacklustre, not to say pedestrian, in Debussy. 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Mine!