Search - Claude Debussy, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Ulster Orchestra :: Debussy: Complete Works for Orchestra

Better in the less-familiar works

Paul Bubny | Maplewood, NJ United States | 04/22/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Yan-Pascal Tortelier produces a surprisingly French timbre from the Ulster Orchestra (in contrast to the women's chorus in "Sirenes," which wafts to the ear as endearingly and beguilingly--if incongruously--Irish), and this conductor clearly knows his Debussy. Yet like another Frenchman who recorded a comprehensive survey of Debussy's orchestral music, Jean Martinon, Tortelier makes a stronger impression with the lesser-known works, many of them orchestrated by hands other than the composer's. As fluent as the music-making is, all too often there's something tossed-off and careless about it. This manifests in overly-smooth phrasing and inconsistent orchestral balances--sometimes tellingly transparent, sometimes skewed to over-emphasize a particular strand at the expense of coherence. For this reason, Tortelier's "La Mer" and "Nocturnes," unfortunately, cause me to think of other, more successful performances I'd rather be hearing, and likewise "Jeux," although "Images" is a winner. Throughout the cycle, I'm not too crazy about Chandos' very resonant and distant sound, which gives the music an opulence that is foreign to its character--and creates its own intereference with details registering properly. Moreover, "La Mer" has been recorded with an exaggeratedly wide dynamic range, so that the opening bars are nearly inaudible. Still, there isn't too much competition for Debussy sets that offer this much music at a bargain price."