Debussy. Ravel - Orchestral Works

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Herbert von Karajan

DG Galleria 427 250-2GGA Buy now

(64’ · ADD)

Debussy La mer. Prélude à L’après-midi d’un faune
Ravel Daphnis et Chloé – Suite No 2. Boléro

Beautifully recorded, controlled and aristocratic, these performances show a scrupulous regard for the composers’ wishes. The sound of the Berlin strings is sumptuous, with detail well placed and in a generally natural perspective. It’s a joy to relish the beauty of the playing in such clear, well-defined sound. It has that indefinable quality that one can more readily recognise than describe, a magic that makes one forget the performer and transports one into the composer’s world. You can either be seduced by some of the most sheerly beautiful orchestral sound recorded, or appreciate it for its wide-ranging imagery and its properly mobile pacing; whichever, it’s one of the great recorded La mers and one of the classics of the gramophone. Karajan’s interpretation of Prélude à L’après-midi d’un faune remains one of the most beautiful readings committed to record – the first flute, Karlheinz Zöller, plays like a wizard. Boléro is slow and steady (but Karajan risks floating the early solos). This is also a ravishing account of the Second Suite from Daphnis et Chloé.