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!

[George]

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

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

I found a used copy of this today:





I had already heard and very much enjoyed the Ravel concertos from this set so I am excited to hear the rest.

So far, after just one CD of the Debussy, it comes off as very different than I am used to, like the music is stuck in the speakers and doesn't project forward. Recording/mastering levels seem very, very low.

[Spotted Horses]

I found a used copy of this today:





I had already heard and very much enjoyed the Ravel concertos from this set so I am excited to hear the rest.

So far, after just one CD of the Debussy, it comes off as very different than I am used to, like the music is stuck in the speakers and doesn't project forward. Recording/mastering levels seem very, very low.

My opinion is that it is the worst set of Debussy recordings I have ever heard, mostly because of the audio.

I could never pick a favorite, but Boulez's Columbia/Sony recordings are among the best.

[George]

My opinion is that it is the worst set of Debussy recordings I have ever heard, mostly because of the audio.

I could never pick a favorite, but Boulez's Columbia/Sony recordings are among the best.

Yeah, the orchestra sounds very far away and no matter how loud I play it, I don't feel close to the music.

The Ravel recordings in this set seem to be highly regarded. Have you heard them?

[Spotted Horses]

Yeah, the orchestra sounds very far away and no matter how loud I play it, I don't feel close to the music.

The Ravel recordings in this set seem to be highly regarded. Have you heard them?

My recollection is that all of the Boulez/Cleveland/DG have the property you describe, they don't "bloom" when the volume is increased. I have the same issue with Boulez/Cleveland/DG in other composers. I find myself amazed to see those recordings praised. The recordings with other orchestras are not as bad, but far from ideal, IMO.

[Jo498]

DG "4D" was often rather disappointing, IIRC, especially considering the self-praise in DG publicity although I have not heard the mentioned recordings and the few 1990s Boulez discs by DG I have heard seemed o.k. (Bartok, Stravinsky, Bruckner's 8th).

[Spotted Horses]

DG "4D" was often rather disappointing, IIRC, especially considering the self-praise in DG publicity although I have not heard the mentioned recordings and the few 1990s Boulez discs by DG I have heard seemed o.k. (Bartok, Stravinsky, Bruckner's 8th).

My impression (based mostly on DG marketing) was that 4D was mostly a more sophisticated digital mixing scheme, which allowed them more flexibility, and which gave them more opportunities than they previously had to ruin recordings through excessive numbers of microphones and digital manipulation. Although sometimes the recordings were just fine (if the engineer/producer knew what they were doing). I came to be wary of the 4D label.

[Jo498]

Probably.
In my recollection that time, ca. 1995 through early 2000s was the last great CD era (afterwards it was reissues and big boxes) and I recall that an acquaintance called these DG Boulez discs a "Gesamtkunstwerk" (the original issues, not the repackaged ones shown above).
They were certainly well produced "on the outside", i.e. usually nice, interesting covers, some slightly more niche repertoire mixed in, presented very well, great orchestras and soloists etc.

[George]

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:

Got this set this week and as advertised, it is wonderful!