Est 1923

Debussy Nocturnes; Jeux

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Claude Debussy

Label: Philips

Media Format: Cassette

Media Runtime: 0

Mastering:

ADD

Catalogue Number: 7300 769

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Jeux Claude Debussy, Composer
(Royal) Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam
Bernard Haitink, Conductor
Claude Debussy, Composer
Nocturnes Claude Debussy, Composer
(Royal) Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam
Amsterdam Collegium Musicum
Bernard Haitink, Conductor
Claude Debussy, Composer
In its LP format, this record won much acclaim not only on artistic grounds but for the quality of the sound. Indeed, it received two Gramophone awards in March 1981, for the best orchestral record of the year and the best engineered recording, and MEO wrote, ''I don't think that I've ever heard more beautiful orchestral sounds, recorded or live, during 1980''; I very much doubt whether he would want to modify his view even after a gap of three years. This record was made using the old analogue techniques and put many of its digital rivals to flight. In its present from it has been digitally re-mastered and the results are very impressive indeed. Listening to the LP alongside the present issue, one finds in the CD just that little more sense of concert-hall presence, the focus is sharper and detail more fully defined. In the middle section of ''Fetes'', for example, at fig. 10, the two harps are more present though the distant perspective is still perfectly judged. The bass is better defined too, and in switching from one to the other, I soon found that I became so absorbed in the CD performance that I forgot to switch back. The CD appears to be mastered at a slightly higher level but even when one adjusts to parity, the improvement in range and definition holds. Take the very opening of ''Nuages'' and the wind and strings seem more real. In discussing the technical excellence of this issue, one must not lose sight of its artistic splendours. Both the Nocturnes and Jeux are unsurpassed in the present catalogue and even were the Giulini or Abbado sets of the Nocturnes to come back into circulation, this would still hold an overall lead—and when returning to much admired older versions of Jeux from de Sabata, Cluytens—much underrated—or Boulez, this account seems to me to eclipse them in almost every respect. This record is likely to remain unchallenged for some years.'

DEBUSSY Nocturnes; Jeux

Jeux

Nocturnes

Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music. 

Stream on Presto Music | Buy from Presto Music

Gramophone Print

  • Print Edition

From £6.67 / month

Subscribe

Gramophone Digital Club

  • Digital Edition
  • Digital Archive
  • Reviews Database
  • Full website access

From £8.75 / month

Subscribe

                              

If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.