PASP002:
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un Faune - Debussy
(1862-1918)
MP3
price
Royal
Albert Hall Orchestra
Conductor: Sir Landon Ronald Recorded
24th September 1926, Kingsway Hall, London
Issued as HMV D.1128
Duration 9'02"
Play
30s sample:
This
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!
