DEBUSSY: ORCHESTRAL WORKS Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Stéphane Denève CHANDOS SACD

For Stéphane Denève, the out-going musical director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, recording this collection of Debussy’s orchestral works has obviously been a labour of love. Denève’s seven year contract with the RSNO ends this season when he becomes the chief conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. In the liner notes accompanying this set Denève writes of his long admiration for Debussy’s music and provides illuminating insights regarding his own approach to performing it. He stresses the need for clarity, energy and rhythmic precision and eschews the idea of any impressionistic ‘blur’. How successfully he has achieved these aims is self-evident by auditioning any section of the nine compositions on these discs.
These two generously filled SACDs – almost two and a half hours of music – contain all of Debussy’s most important orchestral works as well as a few rarities that include the delightful early symphonic suite ‘Printemps’, two short extracts from Debussy’s scène lyrique ‘L’Enfant Prodigue’ and most appropriately the ‘Marche écossaise sur un thème populaire’.
The RSNO has been described as the best French orchestra north of Calais and on the basis of these performances there is much justification for this complement. Denève elicits alert and precise playing from his fine musicians and illuminates many details even in the most familiar and often recorded scores – ‘Images’, ‘La Mer’, ‘Nocturnes’ and ‘Jeux’. The importance of both the descriptive and balletic nature of ‘Jeux’ is emphasised not only by Denève’s evocative interpretation and lightness of touch in Debussy’s final masterpiece, but by the happy idea of printing the full scenario of the ballet in the liner notes and assigning it ten separate tracks (disc 1 trs. 6-15) to allow the listener to follow the course of the action.
With collections like this where personal taste plays such an important part, it is unrealistic to expect every one of these performances to appeal equally to all listeners, but nowhere did I find Denêve to be less than compelling, and for the most part utterly convincing, in his interpretations. On a personal note, I would have liked a little more ebullience and élan in the outer sections of ‘Iberia’ which perhaps sound a little stiff when compared to the incomparable performance of this work by Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1957 though in the middle section ‘Les Parfums de la Nuit’, Denève does effect a marvellously sensuous and languid atmosphere. A highlight of the set is the poised account of the ‘Prélude à l’apres-midi d’un faune’ that features Katherine Bryan’s ravishing flute solo.
The Chandos 5.0 channel surround sound recording, made in 24 bit/96kHz, provides both the warmth and clarity that Denève wishes to achieve in this music and the acoustic signature of the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow is most appropriate to the realisation of those aims. The orchestral image is slightly distanced rather than being overtly analytical, and the sense of depth is well conveyed – as in the off-stage trumpets in the central section of ‘Fêtes’ (disc 1 tr.17) – while Debussy’s use of delicate percussion in, for example, ‘La Mer’ is crystal clear .
The superb playing of the RSNO throughout this set is indicative of the affection and respect with which these musicians hold Stéphane Denève, and this outstanding release is a fitting testimony to the completion of this conductor’s impressive tenure with the RSNO.