Debussy - Nocturnes - Recommendations

[JohnGavin]

I dug up the only recording I have of the 3 Nocturnes by Debussy - Sir
John Barbirolli conducting the Orchestre de Paris. Not very good, I'm
afraid - how is it possible to make "Fetes" sound so leaden and
dead?

Anyway, what would the good recordings of the Debussy Nocturnes be?
Thanks.

[Paul Ilechko]

Post by JohnGavin
I dug up the only recording I have of the 3 Nocturnes by Debussy - Sir
John Barbirolli conducting the Orchestre de Paris. Not very good, I'm
afraid - how is it possible to make "Fetes" sound so leaden and
dead?
Anyway, what would the good recordings of the Debussy Nocturnes be?
Thanks.

Not my favorite Debussy by any stretch, but the Boulez/Cleveland is
quite good for a complete set. I like Munch, but he doesn't do Sirenes
(not that I really miss it, to be honest).

[gggg gggg]

Post by Paul Ilechko

Post by JohnGavin
I dug up the only recording I have of the 3 Nocturnes by Debussy - Sir
John Barbirolli conducting the Orchestre de Paris. Not very good, I'm
afraid - how is it possible to make "Fetes" sound so leaden and
dead?
Anyway, what would the good recordings of the Debussy Nocturnes be?
Thanks.

Not my favorite Debussy by any stretch, but the Boulez/Cleveland is
quite good for a complete set. I like Munch, but he doesn't do Sirenes
(not that I really miss it, to be honest).

Munch later recorded the complete Nocturnes with the ORTF.

It is on Youtube.

The Sirenes is very beautiful. The different sections of the chorus is delineated quite nicely I thought.

[gggg gggg]

Post by Paul Ilechko

Post by JohnGavin
I dug up the only recording I have of the 3 Nocturnes by Debussy - Sir
John Barbirolli conducting the Orchestre de Paris. Not very good, I'm
afraid - how is it possible to make "Fetes" sound so leaden and
dead?
Anyway, what would the good recordings of the Debussy Nocturnes be?
Thanks.

Not my favorite Debussy by any stretch, but the Boulez/Cleveland is
quite good for a complete set. I like Munch, but he doesn't do Sirenes
(not that I really miss it, to be honest).

Munch later recorded the complete Nocturnes with the ORTF which is on Youtube.

The Sirenes is very beautiful. The different sections of the chorus can be heard quite clearly.

[Andy Evans]

Good to see Van Beinum getting plenty of love here. One of the great conductors. I'd put his La Mer up with the best recordings as well. I have a lot of time for him in most repertoire.

[[e-mail]]

Post by Andy Evans
Good to see Van Beinum getting plenty of love here. One of the great conductors. I'd put his La Mer up with the best recordings as well. I have a lot of time for him in most repertoire.

The love happened in 2007. But the gggg reanimator passed the electricity through the archive and presto...

[Alex Brown]

Post by Andy Evans
Good to see Van Beinum getting plenty of love here. One of the great conductors. I'd put his La Mer up with the best recordings as well. I have a lot of time for him in most repertoire.

I remember the Haitink recording getting a lot of love when it came out,
and it's restrained and painterly and all that - but it never really did
it for me. One detail: it's a late analogue recording and there's
audible print-through on the tape so you can hear the big climax in
Fêtes being anticipated. Annoying.

I really like the Tortelier/Ulster Orchestra recording on Chandos.

[Gerard]

Post by Alex Brown

Post by Andy Evans
Good to see Van Beinum getting plenty of love here. One of the great
conductors. I'd put his La Mer up with the best recordings as well. I
have a lot of time for him in most repertoire.

I remember the Haitink recording getting a lot of love when it came out,
and it's restrained and painterly and all that - but it never really did
it for me. One detail: it's a late analogue recording and there's
audible print-through on the tape so you can hear the big climax in
Fêtes being anticipated. Annoying.

I don't hear that (while listening with speakers). It's a beautiful
recording.

[Alex Brown]

Post by Gerard

Post by Alex Brown

Post by Andy Evans
Good to see Van Beinum getting plenty of love here. One of the great
conductors. I'd put his La Mer up with the best recordings as well. I
have a lot of time for him in most repertoire.

I remember the Haitink recording getting a lot of love when it came
out, and it's restrained and painterly and all that - but it never
really did it for me. One detail: it's a late analogue recording and
there's audible print-through on the tape so you can hear the big
climax in Fêtes being anticipated. Annoying.

I don't hear that (while listening with speakers). It's a beautiful
recording.

I suppose it's something I remember from my super teenage ears of over
30 years ago, so maybe now ...

Having just listened I can no longer detect the pre-echo!

Not sure whether to be cheered or depressed by that :/

[[e-mail]]

Post by Alex Brown
Having just listened I can no longer detect the pre-echo!
Not sure whether to be cheered or depressed by that :/
- Alex Brown

This is turning into a good start to a Saturday morning after the cat woke me up for no good reason. I'm sure I'm going to have Fetes in my head the remainder of the weekend.

I learned the Haitink from LP and have too easy a time imagining there was bleed through at the start of Fetes, though the place I usually hear bleed-through is at the beginning of a side, and Discogs says that Fetes was at the middle of side A. I don't have it any more, so can't check.

I also looked a little harder and remembered that I did own Tortelier, so I listened to that. And then van Beinum. It isn't everything, but times here really do suggest some difference. Tortelier-Haitink-Beinum = 6:35-6:15-5:48. Beinum makes clear I was giving Haitink too much credit- all the phrasing is sharper in the earlier performance. But Haitink still seems to me the better compromise between the two, as I find JPT just too relaxed. Listened to Solti, too, as I wanted to see what strict time sounded like through the quieter interlude in the middle of the piece before the big climax. Sounds rather as I expected- most interesting is the phrasing differences here vs the the RCO, how the CSO brass turns the six note theme into the suave "Pa-pa! Pawawawaaa!". I wondered if the orchestra had a tradition of playing like, that- no, the '57 Reiner broadcast is basically the same speed and the horns don't slur anything. Too bad Reiner never recorded it in the studio. Even this performance is incredibly tight.

[dk]

Post by ***@gmail.com

Post by Alex Brown
Having just listened I can no longer detect the pre-echo!
Not sure whether to be cheered or depressed by that :/
- Alex Brown

This is turning into a good start to a Saturday morning after the cat woke
me up for no good reason. I'm sure I'm going to have Fetes in my head the
remainder of the weekend.

Cats usually have very good reasons for how they act that are beyond the
comprehension of humans. Never question their intelligence, wisdom,
and power to influence the world! ;-)

Post by ***@gmail.com
I learned the Haitink from LP and have too easy a time imagining there was
bleed through at the start of Fetes, though the place I usually hear bleed-
through is at the beginning of a side, and Discogs says that Fetes was at
the middle of side A. I don't have it any more, so can't check.

Haitink's La Mer sounds like French spoken with a heavy Dutch accent! ;-)

Post by ***@gmail.com
I also looked a little harder and remembered that I did own Tortelier, so I
listened to that. And then van Beinum. It isn't everything, but times here
really do suggest some difference. Tortelier-Haitink-Beinum = 6:35-6:15-5:48.
Beinum makes clear I was giving Haitink too much credit- all the phrasing is
sharper in the earlier performance. But Haitink still seems to me the better
compromise between the two, as I find JPT just too relaxed. Listened to Solti,
too, as I wanted to see what strict time sounded like through the quieter interlude
in the middle of the piece before the big climax. Sounds rather as I expected- most
interesting is the phrasing differences here vs the the RCO, how the CSO brass turns the
six note theme into the suave "Pa-pa! Pawawawaaa!". I wondered if the orchestra had a
tradition of playing like, that- no, the '57 Reiner broadcast is basically the same speed
and the horns don't slur anything. Too bad Reiner never recorded it in the studio. Even
this performance is incredibly tight.

Listen to this:

And to this:

Happy New Year!

dk

[[e-mail]]

Post by dk
Haitink's La Mer sounds like French spoken with a heavy Dutch accent! ;-)

I love echt-French performances like Desormier and Inghelbrechet and others that are credibly French in manner, but I don't have a problem with others that aren't (Reiner comes to mind- so does Boulez.). I've always enjoyed Haitink's Debussy. Doesn't bother me if he doesn't work for some people- for me it's where I started with these pieces, so I'm not objective at all.

[MELMOTH]

Post by ***@gmail.com
Desormier and Inghelbrechet

*Désormières*...
*Inghelbrecht*...

[Herman]

The Concertgebouw is one of the prime Debussy performing orchestras. The only thing with the Haintink recording is, back then Philips recordings were supposed to be definitive and absolutely true to the score, i.e. a million takes.

Haitink was a different music maker in live performance, frequently going crazy on the podium and giving the most amazing performances.

It's really too bad he focused more and more on an ever shrinking repertoire of of a few Beethoven, Bruckner and Brahms symphonies in his later years and did not revisit Debussy much, probably due to box office considerations.

[dk]

Post by Herman
The Concertgebouw is one of the prime Debussy performing orchestras.

i don't doubt it. RCO is one of my favorite orchestras, light years ahead of
BPO, VPO, NYPO, etc....

Post by Herman
The only thing with the Haintink recording is, back then Philips recordings
were supposed to be definitive and absolutely true to the score, i.e. a million
takes.

how did the unions agree to that ?!?

Post by Herman
Haitink was a different music maker in live performance, frequently going
crazy on the podium and giving the most amazing performances.

I wasn't so privileged. All the concerts I attended he made even the ushers
fall asleep! ;-)

Post by Herman
It's really too bad he focused more and more on an ever shrinking repertoire
of of a few Beethoven, Bruckner and Brahms symphonies in his later years
and did not revisit Debussy much, probably due to box office considerations.

So Dutch audiences don't like Debussy as much as the Bs?

dk

[fomalhaut]

By alphabetical order :

Jean Fournet/Czech Philharmonic/Supraphon (*)
Pierre Monteux/Boston Symphony/RCA
Constantin Silvestri/Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Paris/French HMV/EMI/WARNER

(*) Fournet's two other recordings :
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Paris/Philips
Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra/DECCA

fomalhaut

[Herman]

Post by dk

Post by Herman
It's really too bad he focused more and more on an ever shrinking repertoire
of of a few Beethoven, Bruckner and Brahms symphonies in his later years
and did not revisit Debussy much, probably due to box office considerations.

So Dutch audiences don't like Debussy as much as the Bs?
dk

After stepping down in the late eighties Haitink really did not conduct all that much in the Netherlands, and he was always signalling his feelings had been hurt. (Very difficult, deeply inarticulate man. You wanna go crazy, try and listen to a Haitink interview.) So his career post 1990 was mostly elsewhere. But Haitink definitely was part of the reason why the Concertgebouw Orchestra was typecast as a Mahler and Bruckner orchestra.
Chailly conducted so marvellous Debussy and Ravel concerts.

[dk]

Post by Herman

Post by dk

Post by Herman
It's really too bad he focused more and more on an ever shrinking repertoire
of of a few Beethoven, Bruckner and Brahms symphonies in his later years
and did not revisit Debussy much, probably due to box office considerations.

So Dutch audiences don't like Debussy as much as the Bs?

After stepping down in the late eighties Haitink really did not conduct all that
much in the Netherlands, and he was always signalling his feelings had been
hurt. (Very difficult, deeply inarticulate man. You wanna go crazy, try and listen
to a Haitink interview.)

I actually listened to a couple of his interviews. How can such people even
become conductors?

Post by Herman
So his career post 1990 was mostly elsewhere. But Haitink definitely was part
of the reason why the Concertgebouw Orchestra was typecast as a Mahler and
Bruckner orchestra. Chailly conducted so marvellous Debussy and Ravel concerts.

Chailly is a great guy!

dk

[[e-mail]]

Post by dk

Post by Herman
It's really too bad he focused more and more on an ever shrinking repertoire
of of a few Beethoven, Bruckner and Brahms symphonies in his later years
and did not revisit Debussy much, probably due to box office considerations.

So Dutch audiences don't like Debussy as much as the Bs?
dk

After stepping down in the late eighties Haitink really did not conduct all that much in the Netherlands, and he was a.lways signalling his feelings had been hurt. (Very difficult, deeply inarticulate man. You wanna go crazy, try and listen to a Haitink interview.) So his career post 1990 was mostly elsewhere. But Haitink definitely was part of the reason why the Concertgebouw Orchestra was typecast as a Mahler and Bruckner orchestra.

I never found how Haitink, from interviews, could be described as 'deeply inarticulate' any more than many other conductors, some full of bullshit, some of very few words, and some full of themselves. As a breed, one doesn't seek out music conductors for articulation personified. Karajan is a case in point. Are you referring to Haitink wrt his interviews in Dutch? I find his English mostly fairly good, and he sticks to the point.

Chailly conducted so marvellous Debussy and Ravel concerts.

Chailly is very good, but for me he can seem to be a tad on auto-pilot for a lot of the time.

Ray Hall, Taree

[gggg gggg]

Post by ***@gmail.com

Post by dk

Post by Herman
It's really too bad he focused more and more on an ever shrinking repertoire
of of a few Beethoven, Bruckner and Brahms symphonies in his later years
and did not revisit Debussy much, probably due to box office considerations.

So Dutch audiences don't like Debussy as much as the Bs?
dk

After stepping down in the late eighties Haitink really did not conduct all that much in the Netherlands, and he was a.lways signalling his feelings had been hurt. (Very difficult, deeply inarticulate man. You wanna go crazy, try and listen to a Haitink interview.) So his career post 1990 was mostly elsewhere. But Haitink definitely was part of the reason why the Concertgebouw Orchestra was typecast as a Mahler and Bruckner orchestra.

I never found how Haitink, from interviews, could be described as 'deeply inarticulate' any more than many other conductors, some full of bullshit, some of very few words, and some full of themselves. As a breed, one doesn't seek out music conductors for articulation personified. Karajan is a case in point. Are you referring to Haitink wrt his interviews in Dutch? I find his English mostly fairly good, and he sticks to the point.

You can find a couple of his interviews on Youtube if you search:

Haitink interview

[[e-mail]]

Post by MELMOTH

Post by ***@gmail.com
Desormier and Inghelbrechet

*Désormières*...
*Inghelbrecht*...

Hey, between memory and typing, anything can happen. But it is Désormière, right?

[MELMOTH]

Post by ***@gmail.com
Hey, between memory and typing, anything can happen. But it is Désormière, right?

You are right...And I am ashamed !...

[[e-mail]]

Post by MELMOTH

Post by ***@gmail.com
Hey, between memory and typing, anything can happen. But it is Désormière, right?

You are right...And I am ashamed !...

I'm a grammer fuss at work (and my professional expertise is not centered around writing, so I have to be careful). So I value your concern even as I feel that this is a place to let your hear down. (Wow, I meant to write "hair" but don't tell me that's not better.)

[gggg gggg]

Post by ***@gmail.com

Post by dk
Haitink's La Mer sounds like French spoken with a heavy Dutch accent! ;-)

I love echt-French performances like Desormier and Inghelbrechet and others that are credibly French in manner, but I don't have a problem with others that aren't (Reiner comes to mind- so does Boulez.). I've always enjoyed Haitink's Debussy. Doesn't bother me if he doesn't work for some people- for me it's where I started with these pieces, so I'm not objective at all.

(Youtube upload):

Meisterkurs Dirigieren | Bernard Haitink | Lucerne Festival at Easter | Debussy, Trois Nocturnes

[dk]

Post by gggg gggg

Post by ***@gmail.com

Post by dk
Haitink's La Mer sounds like French spoken with a heavy Dutch accent! ;-)

I love echt-French performances like Desormier and Inghelbrechet and others that are credibly French in manner, but I don't have a problem with others that aren't (Reiner comes to mind- so does Boulez.). I've always enjoyed Haitink's Debussy. Doesn't bother me if he doesn't work for some people- for me it's where I started with these pieces, so I'm not objective at all.

Meisterkurs Dirigieren | Bernard Haitink | Lucerne Festival at Easter | Debussy, Trois Nocturnes

?!? Where is the link ?!?

[gggg gggg]

Post by dk

Post by ***@gmail.com

Post by Alex Brown
Having just listened I can no longer detect the pre-echo!
Not sure whether to be cheered or depressed by that :/
- Alex Brown

This is turning into a good start to a Saturday morning after the cat woke
me up for no good reason. I'm sure I'm going to have Fetes in my head the
remainder of the weekend.

Cats usually have very good reasons for how they act that are beyond the
comprehension of humans. Never question their intelligence, wisdom,
and power to influence the world! ;-)

Post by ***@gmail.com
I learned the Haitink from LP and have too easy a time imagining there was
bleed through at the start of Fetes, though the place I usually hear bleed-
through is at the beginning of a side, and Discogs says that Fetes was at
the middle of side A. I don't have it any more, so can't check.

Haitink's La Mer sounds like French spoken with a heavy Dutch accent! ;-)...

And what would Ameling say about THAT!

[[e-mail]]

Post by Alex Brown

Post by Andy Evans
Good to see Van Beinum getting plenty of love here. One of the great conductors. I'd put his La Mer up with the best recordings as well. I have a lot of time for him in most repertoire.

I remember the Haitink recording getting a lot of love when it came out,
and it's restrained and painterly and all that - but it never really did
it for me. One detail: it's a late analogue recording and there's
audible print-through on the tape so you can hear the big climax in
Fêtes being anticipated. Annoying.
I really like the Tortelier/Ulster Orchestra recording on Chandos.
--
- Alex Brown

I just listened to all of Haitink's Fetes in Audition so I'd have a better sense of when the "big climax" was going to arrive. I take it you mean around 3:38. I've listened to the whole movement and played back several sections and hear no print-through whatsoever. I think it's time to recheck your memory. Are you listening on CD?

I think the remarkable thing about this recording is how rhythmically tight the RCO plays. Only at the midpoint of Fetes does Haitink let things become a bit more slack, and then he quickly tighten things back up, as if it was all intentional.

THat's not to say I'm not curious about Tortelier, who made a lot of fine recordings of French music for Chandos. Will check it out.

[gggg gggg]

Post by Alex Brown

Post by Andy Evans
Good to see Van Beinum getting plenty of love here. One of the great conductors. I'd put his La Mer up with the best recordings as well. I have a lot of time for him in most repertoire.

I remember the Haitink recording getting a lot of love when it came out,
and it's restrained and painterly and all that - but it never really did
it for me....

Same here. And I do recall all the praise the critics gave that recording when it came out and was disappointed when I finally heard it. I felt that there was really nothing special about it. Somewhat lacking in distinction and almost generic.

[gggg gggg]

Post by Alex Brown

Post by Andy Evans
Good to see Van Beinum getting plenty of love here. One of the great conductors. I'd put his La Mer up with the best recordings as well. I have a lot of time for him in most repertoire.

I remember the Haitink recording getting a lot of love when it came out,
and it's restrained and painterly and all that - but it never really did
it for me....

Same here. And I do recall all the praise the critics gave that recording when it came out and was disappointed when I finally heard it. I felt that there was really nothing special about it. Somewhat lacking in distinction and almost generic.

But to be fair, I am a "Nuages" nut and didn't listen to the other movements as carefully:

https://groups.google.com/u/1/g/rec.music.classical.recordings/c/HRfsvRiBHmI/m/zKHTzOKbAgAJ

[gggg gggg]

Post by gggg gggg

Post by Alex Brown

Post by Andy Evans
Good to see Van Beinum getting plenty of love here. One of the great conductors. I'd put his La Mer up with the best recordings as well. I have a lot of time for him in most repertoire.

I remember the Haitink recording getting a lot of love when it came out,
and it's restrained and painterly and all that - but it never really did
it for me....

Same here. And I do recall all the praise the critics gave that recording when it came out and was disappointed when I finally heard it. I felt that there was really nothing special about it. Somewhat lacking in distinction and almost generic.

https://groups.google.com/u/1/g/rec.music.classical.recordings/c/HRfsvRiBHmI/m/zKHTzOKbAgAJ

https://groups.google.com/u/1/g/rec.music.classical.recordings/c/7y-7cqy7BBM/m/Y_Xp1t2q7fIJ

[Ed Presson]

Post by Andy Evans
Good to see Van Beinum getting plenty of love here. One of the great
conductors. I'd put his La Mer up with the best recordings as well. I have
a lot of time for him in most repertoire.
I remember the Haitink recording getting a lot of love when it came out,
and it's restrained and painterly and all that - but it never really did it
for me. - Alex Brown

When I first heard it years ago, I thought it was quite beautiful, but
lacking life (compared to Munch, Martinon, or Monteux).
It seemed like a beautifully embalmed piece of music. Later I heard the CD;
and I still reacted the same.

[Chris from Lafayette]

This post might be inappropriate. Click to display it.

[R***@gmail.com]

Post by JohnGavin
I dug up the only recording I have of the 3 Nocturnes by Debussy - Sir
John Barbirolli conducting the Orchestre de Paris. Not very good, I'm
afraid - how is it possible to make "Fetes" sound so leaden and
dead?
Anyway, what would the good recordings of the Debussy Nocturnes be?
Thanks.

The orchestra must have a stellar woodwind section, great individual
personalities (for the many solos) who can blend into a perfect choir
and match pitch exceptionally well. And the women's voices need to be
very well trained for "Sirenes" or that sounds shapeless. In my view
Boston and the Concertgebouw are the top contenders; Monteux and
Abbado for the former, Haitink for the latter. I would love to hear a
Czech Phil recording. Other good ones I know are Inglebrecht (postwar)
and Boulez/Cleveland.

[Gerard]

Post by R***@gmail.com

Post by JohnGavin
I dug up the only recording I have of the 3 Nocturnes by Debussy -
Sir John Barbirolli conducting the Orchestre de Paris. Not very
good, I'm afraid - how is it possible to make "Fetes" sound so
leaden and
dead?
Anyway, what would the good recordings of the Debussy Nocturnes be?
Thanks.

The orchestra must have a stellar woodwind section, great individual
personalities (for the many solos) who can blend into a perfect choir
and match pitch exceptionally well. And the women's voices need to be
very well trained for "Sirenes" or that sounds shapeless. In my view
Boston and the Concertgebouw are the top contenders; Monteux and
Abbado for the former, Haitink for the latter.

Seconded.
(Add van Beinum for the Concertgebouw Orchestra recording(s).)

[Peter123]

Post by Gerard

Post by R***@gmail.com

Post by JohnGavin
I dug up the only recording I have of the 3 Nocturnes by Debussy -
Sir John Barbirolli conducting the Orchestre de Paris. Not very
good, I'm afraid - how is it possible to make "Fetes" sound so
leaden and
dead?
Anyway, what would the good recordings of the Debussy Nocturnes be?
Thanks.

The orchestra must have a stellar woodwind section, great individual
personalities (for the many solos) who can blend into a perfect choir
and match pitch exceptionally well. And the women's voices need to be
very well trained for "Sirenes" or that sounds shapeless. In my view
Boston and the Concertgebouw are the top contenders; Monteux and
Abbado for the former, Haitink for the latter.

Seconded.
(Add van Beinum for the Concertgebouw Orchestra recording(s).)- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -

The van Beinum recording is wonderful!

[Bob Harper]

***@gmail.com wrote:
(snip)

Post by R***@gmail.com
The orchestra must have a stellar woodwind section, great individual
personalities (for the many solos) who can blend into a perfect choir
and match pitch exceptionally well. And the women's voices need to be
very well trained for "Sirenes" or that sounds shapeless. In my view
Boston and the Concertgebouw are the top contenders; Monteux and
Abbado for the former, Haitink for the latter. I would love to hear a
Czech Phil recording.

Look no further than Supraphon Archiv SU 3421-1 011, CPO/Fournet. All
three Nocturnes, plus La Mer and Iberia.

Bob Harper
Other good ones I know are Inglebrecht (postwar)

Post by R***@gmail.com
and Boulez/Cleveland.

[Paul Goldstein]

In article <***@31g2000cwt.googlegroups.com>, JohnGavin
says...

Post by JohnGavin
I dug up the only recording I have of the 3 Nocturnes by Debussy - Sir
John Barbirolli conducting the Orchestre de Paris. Not very good, I'm
afraid - how is it possible to make "Fetes" sound so leaden and
dead?
Anyway, what would the good recordings of the Debussy Nocturnes be?
Thanks.

The usual suspects for French music: Boulez (Sony), Monteux (RCA), Paray
(Mercury) lead the pack for me. Also very fine are Giulini (EMI) and MTT
(Sony).

[Dan Fowler]

Inghelbrecht,Martinon, and Van Beinum are three of my favorites. I was also
very favorably surprised by the Nocturnes in the Tortelier set, which is the
best-recorded Nocturnes in my collection.

Post by Paul Goldstein
says...

Post by JohnGavin
I dug up the only recording I have of the 3 Nocturnes by Debussy - Sir
John Barbirolli conducting the Orchestre de Paris. Not very good, I'm
afraid - how is it possible to make "Fetes" sound so leaden and
dead?
Anyway, what would the good recordings of the Debussy Nocturnes be?
Thanks.

The usual suspects for French music: Boulez (Sony), Monteux (RCA), Paray
(Mercury) lead the pack for me. Also very fine are Giulini (EMI) and MTT
(Sony).

[Todd Schurk]

Post by Dan Fowler
Inghelbrecht,Martinon, and Van Beinum are three of my favorites. I was also
very favorably surprised by the Nocturnes in the Tortelier set, which is the
best-recorded Nocturnes in my collection.

Post by Paul Goldstein
says...

Post by JohnGavin
I dug up the only recording I have of the 3 Nocturnes by Debussy - Sir
John Barbirolli conducting the Orchestre de Paris. Not very good, I'm
afraid - how is it possible to make "Fetes" sound so leaden and
dead?
Anyway, what would the good recordings of the Debussy Nocturnes be?
Thanks.

The usual suspects for French music: Boulez (Sony), Monteux (RCA), Paray
(Mercury) lead the pack for me. Also very fine are Giulini (EMI) and MTT
(Sony).

I also go for the Van Beinum when I listen to the Nocturnes.

[Alan Cooper]

Post by Todd Schurk

Post by Dan Fowler
Inghelbrecht,Martinon, and Van Beinum are three of my favorites. I
was also very favorably surprised by the Nocturnes in the Tortelier
set, which is the best-recorded Nocturnes in my collection.

JohnGavin says...

Post by JohnGavin
I dug up the only recording I have of the 3 Nocturnes by Debussy -
Sir John Barbirolli conducting the Orchestre de Paris. Not very
good, I'm afraid - how is it possible to make "Fetes" sound so
leaden and dead?
Anyway, what would the good recordings of the Debussy Nocturnes be?
Thanks.

The usual suspects for French music: Boulez (Sony), Monteux (RCA),
Paray (Mercury) lead the pack for me. Also very fine are Giulini
(EMI) and MTT (Sony).

I also go for the Van Beinum when I listen to the Nocturnes.

Me too, although for Nuages + Fetes only I prefer Cantelli.

AC

[Chango]

Post by JohnGavin
I dug up the only recording I have of the 3 Nocturnes by Debussy - Sir
John Barbirolli conducting the Orchestre de Paris. Not very good, I'm
afraid - how is it possible to make "Fetes" sound so leaden and
dead?
Anyway, what would the good recordings of the Debussy Nocturnes be?
Thanks.

This thread (Thank you, John) has made me revisit my many Nocturnes on disc. So far, ahead of the others in the race, is Michael Tilson Thoma's on Sony. The chorus is simply gorgeous and well-recorded too.

Steve K