Martinon

These much-lauded performances deserve the highest possible recommendation. One example suffices to detail the level of Martinon’s interpretive perceptions. Ravel was, of course, a stunning orchestrator, and yet most of the music here was originally conceived for keyboard. The end of the Mother Goose ballet contains one of his rare orchestral miscalculations: the original glissandos for piano are given to the harp, which is almost never audible against the loud final climax–except here. Martinon, with his keen ear and evident knowledge of what Ravel intended, makes sure that the harp comes right through, and the result is magical. His textural awareness is matched by an equally natural sense of pacing, and the orchestra (not one of the world’s great ones) gives him 100 percent in music that it clearly knows and loves.

Never mind that on the back of the CD, EMI calls the band the “Orchestra de Paris”; these much-lauded performances deserve the highest possible recommendation. One example suffices to detail the level of Martinon’s interpretive perceptions. Ravel was, of course, a stunning orchestrator, and yet most of the music here was originally conceived for keyboard. The end of the Mother Goose ballet contains one of his rare orchestral miscalculations: the original glissandos for piano are given to the harp, which is almost never audible against the loud final climax–except here. Martinon, with his keen ear and evident knowledge of what Ravel intended, makes sure that the harp comes right through, and the result is magical. His textural awareness is matched by an equally natural sense of pacing, and the orchestra (not one of the world’s great ones) gives him 100 percent in music that it clearly knows and loves.

Unlike some of the old RCA and Columbia Records classical works on LP, the DGG performances are excellent for getting the dynamics as realistic as possible, and this is an excellent example of this. Lalo I believe was French but with Spanish ancestry, I presume that is why he was paired with Bizet. But I find their styles of composition are not alike. Lalo loves to use various tempos of 3, either waltz type tempos or 6/8, but what I find interesting is that his music can at times be very fiery, probably due to the Spanish influence. This is displayed in many of the pieces in CD#2, and I've not found another composer who does this so effectively. He also is a master of orchestral color, using castanets, cymbals, and other percussion perfectly.

French composer and pianist Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921) wrote five symphonies; however, only one of them, the Third “Organ” Symphony, became at all popular. Even so, its popularity is so immense, it doesn’t matter that the others have found relatively little favor. They’re still interesting, but quite overshadowed by their big brother. It’s good to have them all together in one package if for no other reason than curiosity’s sake. Who knows; a person familiar only with the Third might soon find a new favorite among the others.

2016 marks the 40th anniversary of Jean Martinon’s death. This 14-CD collection focuses on Martinon’s activity with the Orchestre National de l’O.R.T.F between 1968 and 1975 and on repertoire – much of it French – that complements the works by Debussy and Ravel that feature on Martinon’s best-known recordings. The box brings together recordings he made for both EMI and Erato and also includes the first commercial releases of live recordings kept at France’s Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA) and dating from 1970 (Roussel’s Symphony No 3), 1971 (Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin) and 1972 (Falla’s complete Three-Cornered Hat).

At long last, Jean Martinon's classic EMI Debussy and Ravel cycles from the 1970s have been gathered in a space-saving box set. If you love this repertoire, you'll gasp with joy at the conductor's crystal-clear orchestral balances, which truly reproduce what you see in the printed music. If you respond to a lean, sinewy approach to this repertoire in the manner of Toscanini and Boulez, but pine for the timbral characteristics that used to distinguish French orchestras (silver-coated strings, tart woodwinds, and slightly watery brass) in gorgeous, vibrant sonics, Martinon's your man. Aldo Ciccolini's crisp, diamond-edged finger work stands out in Ravel's two piano concertos and in Debussy's rarely heard Fantasie. The young Itzhak Perlman's dazzling, effortless traversal of Ravel's Tzigane will humble many an aspiring fiddler. And you won't find a more sparkling, translucent Ravel Mother Goose Suite on record. Martinon was a marvel, and a sadly underrated podium giant.

–Jed Distler

Stern’s well known strengths in Brahms, as evidenced in his studio recordings, are reprised here. He plays with a communicative classicism that embraces romanticised rubati - which elongates but never breaks the line - and which vests the music sometimes with a heartbreaking sense of pathos…The orchestra remains rather bluff…But never mind, it’s Stern’s show and Wöss accompanies admirably.