Given the hundreds of recordings by the greatest conductors and orchestras of the past century, it's perhaps surprising that a new recording by a less than well-known orchestra and conductor would have something new to tell us about
Debussy's perennially popular La Mer and Images pour orchestre. But
Emmanuel Krivine and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg have delivered superlative accounts of both works that do indeed tell us something new. The performances are superbly played and conducted, with vivid colors but clean textures, buoyant tempos but poised balances, and cogent forms but ecstatic expressivity. There are plenty of details audible here that are usually glossed over, but they always fit their context and never overwhelm the main argument. The interpretations do more than merely render the notes; they make the case for both works being among the most expressive and moving in the French orchestral repertoire. The rapture at the end of La Mer and the sensuality in Images are not simply pasted onto the music, but grow out of it. Captured in open and natural digital sound by Timpani, this recording deserves to be heard by anyone with a fondness for the works.