DeBussy - Memories - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The Halle and Sir Mark Elder follow their previous highly acclaimed DeBussy albums, with a stunning orchestral collection including a world premiere recording. This collection features works from across the composer's career, from his early winning of the Prix de Rome, as a result of which he composed the delicate cantata La Demoiselle elue in 1887. Recorded following the highly acclaimed Proms performance and featuring stand-out soloists Anna Stephany and Sophie Bevan, hailed by reviewers. The enigmatic Nocturnes date from 1897-9 and show the composer at the height of his orchestral powers, in music that is highly evocative of mood and which displays deft instrumental writing. Mastery of instrumental writing is further evidenced in the technically demanding Premiere Rhapsodie, which calls upon the full range of emotions from the soloist; here the Halle's Principal Clarinet, Sergio Castello Lopez. The album features a world premiere recording of Colin Matthew's orchestration of the piano piece Les soirs illumines par l'ardeur du charbon, unknown until it's discovery in 2001. This arrangement follows Matthews' universally acclaimed orchestrations of the DeBussy Preludes.

Collectif9, well-known for it's innovative programming and it's unique arrangements of the classical repertory, here tackles the music of DeBussy, following a first recording devoted to Mahler (ALPHA770). With Clair de lune, La Mer and Des pas sur la neige, the Montreal collective invites us into a sumptuous theatre of shadows and waves 'Could we, as nine string players, perform Claude DeBussy's La Mer and do it justice? In a musical style where timbre and color are paramount, attempting to interpret this emblematic work seemed outrageous; but come to think of it, we like a challenge. This is certainly a reinterpretation. Being fewer in number allows us to otherwise reveal a rich rhythmic interplay already present in the work while shedding new light on the balance of voices and harmonies.' A work by composer Luna Pearl Woolf completes the program Contact, 'a sonic view into the underwater world of beluga whales in the St Lawrence Estuary'.

Album Tracks 1. Libro I I. (... Danseuse de Delphes) 2. Libro I II. (... Voiles) 3. Libro I III. (... La Vente Dans la Plaine) 4. Libro I IV. (...'Les Sons Et Les Parfums Tournent Dans L'air Du Soir') 5. Libro I V. (... Les Collines D'anacapri) 6. Libro I VI. (... Des Pas Sur la Neige) 7. Libro I VII. (... Ce Qu'a Vu Le Vent D'ouest) 8. Libro I VIII. (... La Fille Aux Cheveux de Lin) 9. Libro I IX. (... La Ser Interrompue) 10. Libro I X. (... La Cathedrale Engloutie) 11. Libro I XI. (... La Danse de Puck) 12. Libro I XII. (... Minstrels) 13. Libro II I. (... Brouillars) 14. Libro II II. (... Feuilles Mortes) 15. Libro II III. (... La Puerta Del Vino) 16. Libro II IV. (...'Les Fees Sont D'exquises Danseuse') 17. Libro II V. (... Bruyeres) 18. Libro II VI. (... General Lavine 'Eccentric') 19. Libro II VII. (... La Terrasse Des Audiences Du Clair de Lune) 20. Libro II VIII. (... Ondine) 21. Libro II IX. (... Hommage a Samuel Pickwick Esq.P.P.M.P.C.) 22. Libro II X. (... Canope) 23. Libro II XI. (... Les Tierces Alternees) 24. Libro II XII. (... Feux D'artifices)