PIERRE BOULEZ CONDUCTS DEBUSSY (5 CDS)

The first major commercial recording by Pierre Boulez, made in 1966 with London's New Philharmonia Orchestra, was of music by a composer he particularly revered, Claude DeBussy. Praised for it's "clarity and cool" (New York Times), Boulez's radical approach to DeBussy won him a Grammy. Records & Recording called the CBS album, comprising the Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, La Mer, and Jeux, "a record that needed to be made". The following year, in which he was appointed principal guest conductor and musical advisor in Cleveland, Boulez made a second DeBussy album with that elite ensemble comprising the Images and Danses. Gramophone greeted it's release with almost unbounded enthusiasm: "[The Images] are marvelously played by the Cleveland Orchestra, now the finest orchestral instrument in the United States... The Danses for harp and strings, beautifully played... make a very desirable fill-up." High Fidelity wrote: "This is the most lucid and illuminating performance of the Images that I know, and the Danses are equally accomplished." A year later, Boulez returned to the New Philharmonia in London for a third DeBussy programme: the three Nocturnes, Printemps and the Clarinet Rhapsody. High Fidelity's reviewer wrote: "Throughout, a fantastic clarity is brought to DeBussy's textures; entire sections of the orchestra play as one single instrument... so that the over-all rhythmic verve... is beautifully sustained, the harmonic subtleties etched with unimpeachable clarity. The same qualities are found in the other works." Then in 1970 Boulez capped his CBS DeBussy series, reissued here on 5 albums, with a revolutionary interpretation of the composer's operatic masterwork Pelléas et Mélisande. It was recorded in conjunction with a rapturously acclaimed new production at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with a superb cast including Elisabeth Söderström as Mélisande, George Shirley as Pelléas and Donald McIntyre as Golaud.

Debussy: La Mer
24:44
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Pierre Boulez

No. 1, De l'aube a midi sur la mer
8:36

No. 2, Jeux de vagues
8:51

No. 3, Dialogue du vent et de la mer
7:17$

Debussy: Trois Nocturnes
21:15
New Philharmonia Orchestra, John Alldis Choir
Pierre Boulez

No. 1, Nuages
7:35

No. 2, Fêtes
7:01

No. 3, Sirènes
6:39

Debussy: Printemps, suite for piano 4 hands or orchestra, L. 61
20:51
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Pierre Boulez

I. Très modéré
10:59

II. Modéré
9:52


Debussy: Première Rhapsodie, L. 116 (Version for Orchestra with Solo Clarinet)
6:07
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet)
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Pierre Boulez

Debussy: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
9:41
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Pierre Boulez

Debussy: Jeux - Poème dansé
17:02
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Pierre Boulez

Debussy: Images for orchestra, L. 122
35:19
Cleveland Orchestra
Pierre Boulez

I. Gigues
7:35

II. Ibéria: No. 1, Par les rues et par les chemins
7:07

II. Ibéria: No. 2, Les Parfums de la nuit
8:11$

II. Ibéria: No. 3, Le Matin d'un jour de fête
4:21

III. Rondes de printemps
8:05

Debussy: Danses sacrée et profane
Alice Chalifoux (harp)
Cleveland Orchestra
Pierre Boulez

I. Danse sacrée
5:09

II. Danse profane
5:00

Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
2:34:10
Donald McIntyre (bass baritone), Yvonne Minton (mezzo-soprano), Elisabeth Söderström (soprano), Anthony Britten (soprano), David Ward (bass), Dennis Wicks (bass), George Shirley (tenor)
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Pierre Boulez