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Pristine Classical
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Pristine Classical Recorded Music
[rating]
 
PASP002: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un Faune - Debussy (1862-1918)
French

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Royal Albert Hall Orchestra
Conductor: Sir Landon Ronald
Recorded 24th September 1926, Kingsway Hall, London
Issued as HMV D.1128
Duration 9'02"

Debussy

Play 30s sample:

Natural SoundThis recording of Debussy's delightful Prélude is interesting and important for a variety of reasons. Our research suggests that this may be the first time in the electric recording era that an orchestral work by Debussy had been recorded - just 7 or 8 years after the composer's death. Earlier acoustic recordings required specially designed instruments and arrangements, so for the first time we can hear a performance of this work in as close a way to the composer's contemporary style as possible. The work itself is hugely important, as for many music historians it marks the very beginning of the Modern era in classical music, and the beginning of the end of the Romantic period. That's not to say it's a cacophony of dissonance - far from it - but it is certainly charting new melodic and harmonic territory.

And for us it's been an interesting restoration project too. Our copy is cracked from edge to centre, and the opening notes are marred by a deep gouge in the grooves, causing the stylus to jump back with each revolution (i.e. "stick") and making a dreadful noise. This, coupled with the enormous click and bump each time the record revolves, and a number of other surface defects, meant that we almost rejected this for Pristine Audio Direct - we even discovered that the second side was pitched 2% higher than the first side! But then, realising the date and thus importance of this recording, and hearing the shimmering sound quality captured in those very earliest months of microphone recordings, we had to give it our best shot. There will inevitably remain one or two rough edges by comparison to later recordings - the engineers sound like they had difficulty with the full volume range of the orchestra, for example - but it still doesn't take away from the ravishing impact of this beautiful and historic recording, now free of that gouge and those clunks and clicks!

REVIEW OF DEBUSSY'S PRELUDE A L'APRES-MIDI D'UN FAUNE
Royal Albert Hall Orchestra, Sir Landon Ronald (1926)
A sublime performance with remastered sound that allows its art to communicate itself fully to us.

Knowing neither the orchestra nor the conductor nor the performance date*, I am in the same predicament as the great American comic actor and toper, W. C. Fields, who once complained that he was lost in the desert for three days with nothing to drink but water. I have only the music. At the start the flutist is superb with a round tone; the oboist's tone is plangent but full. Everything is clear; it is 11:30 AM on a hot, sunny, bright day. The buildup, the flow to the climax is so organic that it takes my breath away. The yearning after the climax of the second part of the prelude leaves little doubt what is on the faun's mind nor his ability to achieve his desires. The comedown is gentle and the flute in the coda is magical. Has anyone seen the similarity of this work to the prelude to Tristan and Isolde?

The reprocessing has occasional moments of harshness, but they lend a welcome masculine aura to a work which has sometimes been a little too androgynous for my taste. GET THIS RECORDING!

Reviewer: Bill Rosen

*Producer's note: Somehow the performance and recording information failed to reach Bill prior to the review being written. He has made it clear that there's nothing to change in the light of this information!


Find out more:

 
About Debussy:
Download our Illustrated Catalogue
Complete catalogue of recordings, fully indexed by composer and performer, with links to website pages


Also available as part of the compilation CD

"The Pristine Audio Collection - Volume One - 2005"

Click on the cover image to find out more!
PAMX001 - The Pristine Audio Collection Vol. 1

 

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