Mer(s)
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
La Mer (1905)
Paul Dukas (1865-1935)
L’Apprenti Sorcier (1897)
Jean Cras (1879-1932)
Journal de Bord (1927)
Appassionato/Mathieu Herzog
rec. live, 9 June 2023, L’Auditorium de la Seine Musicale, Paris
Appassionato APP001 [58]
I find this a slightly curious disc. Clearly this is a group of highly talented and technically able musicians playing a programme that combines an accepted masterpiece with a brilliant orchestral ‘pops’ alongside a little known but substantial work of superb quality. But ultimately, for all those qualities and the rather earnest ‘missions statements’ included in the French/English liner note; “this album places artistic works at the crossroads of ecological and social issues” by the simple measure of comparing the finest available recordings of all three works this disc is not as good as other versions.
The orchestra is a French ensemble named Appassionato. Looking at their website and the complete list of players named in the liner they appear to be a young group of musicians of French origin. Looking at the concert programmes for the orchestra they appear to focus mainly on educational work with ensembles of varying sizes where a single work is discussed and then performed. This new recording is the first on the orchestra’s ‘own label’ and the first of a symphonic scale. Their previous handful of discs have been of classical or chamber orchestra dimensions utilising around 40 players. The liner – in a conversation format – makes great if rather spurious claims about how the values of chamber playing – “passion, excellence, high standards” – are now brought to the symphonic repertoire. To be clear there is nothing new in those values and any good orchestra will embody them as a matter of course.
Conductor Mathieu Herzog seems to be a driving creative force behind the orchestra. The main issue for the collector is that his interpretations as presented here are perfectly good and sane but ultimately lacking the insights or individuality that would make you choose this disc over myriad others. His style reflects a trend that is increasingly common currently – contrasts of dynamic and tempo are exaggerated so passages of listless languor explode into muscular dynamism. This issue is that the slower passages lack expressive tension or a sense of musical line with the louder/faster passages sounding too often as just vehicles for virtuosic display rather than representing a sense of release from what has come before. Make no mistake there is something brilliantly alert and attractive playing here – collectively the orchestra makes light of the technical hurdles of the Debussy and Dukas. As recorded the string strength; 12:10:7:8:5 sounds just a fraction thin for the richer sonorities of the Debussy and Cras but in fact my impression is that this is more a result of some engineering and production choices.
This appears to be the product of a single live concert given on June 9th 2023. I assume there must have been some pre/post concert patching but I did not hear a single audience noise of any kind and no applause has been retained. But this ‘silent’ ambience has been created by engineering and production choices that I feel do not serve the performers or ultimately the interpretations. Essentially this is a very closely miced recording which impacts seriously on the dynamic range and an effective integration of the orchestral instruments. Intakes of breath from the wind are frequently audible but especially distracting are the “upbeat” sniffs by Herzog at just about any and every opportunity. Usually this does not bother me that much but here I found myself listening out for them. I would rather have a good audience cough than the sniffs as immortalised here. But then odd other details are all but inaudible; the (infamous) glockenspiel writing in L’Apprenti Sorcier goes for nothing or the cornet writing that crowns the final climax in the same work [here Herzog misjudges the rallentando which is only marked très légèrement retenu]. My sense is that in a concert hall these details might well naturally emerge and certainly the complexity of the writing by all three composers would integrate more effectively than here where complimentary phrases stand in stark isolation to each other across the orchestra. In the closing movement of La Mer – Dialogue du vent et de la mer as another example Herzog retains the trumpet fanfare figures [8 bars before rehearsal figure 60 in the published score – around the 7:00 mark in this performance] that Debussy removed in the last critical edition he oversaw but then allows them to be strangely reticent and adds another clumsy (here unmarked) rallentando into the Au mouvement initial. Listen to just about any of the acknowledged great performances of this work from Munch – who includes the fanfares resplendently and drives the work to a thrilling conclusion – or Martinon, Szell, Plasson, Haitink or even the interventionist Stokowski for interpretations of far greater nuance, flexibility, beauty and excitement. This remains a well played competently interpreted, flawed recording and as such uncompetitive.
Quite what L’Apprenti Sorcier has to do with the sea is unclear. It seems that part of Appassionato goal is – as referenced above – to align music with ecological issues. Of course climate change must be a central part of the social or political discourse of the world but whether trying to force onto this charming work a discussion about “wasting water” (the out of control brooms flood the house) seems both contrived and rather precious. Surely Ibert’s L’escales or D’Indy’s Diptyque méditerranéen or Poème des rivages [too long complete for this disc I realise] would be more logical programme companions. Again, there is some very neat and articulate playing from all departments of the orchestra but not enough to dispel the concerns regarding interpretative plainness and recording limitations.
The concert/disc is completed by Jean Cras’ Journal de Bord. This work is as much of a revelation here as it was when I first discovered through what I think is its only other commercial recording [there is another old vinyl recording on the Cybelia label that I am not sure ever made it to CD]. This appeared on a typically exploratory 2-disc set from the Timpani label and was recorded as long ago as 1996. That a work of this stature, beauty and interest can wait not far off thirty years for just a second recording is head-scratching. The score can be viewed here. As a slight aside – comparing the orchestral output of Cras and flavour-of-the-month Mel Bonis shows Cras to be of far greater interest in this genre with the sense emerging that Bonis was highly talented but mainly in the areas of keyboard and chamber music. Here, the liner conversation references the fact that the young French players had barely heard the name of Cras let alone played any of his music – and they were struck by what they heard. Some brief biography does help contextualise this work. Like Roussel, Cras was a naval officer who eventually rose to the rank of Rear-Admiral so music remained a passionately pursed hobby. The amount of music Cras wrote in his lifetime is relatively small – dictated one imagines by the demands of a full-time career – but it is diverse including all the main genres up to a full-scale (rather good) opera. This orchestral work – a three movement musical evocation of a sea-voyage – was written in 1927 with the influence of Debussy in general and La Mer specifically unrepentantly clear. The writing lacks the sheer richness and complexity of Debussy’s masterpiece but there is a warmth and luxuriousness as well as melodic invention that makes this a hugely attractive score and its neglect either on disc or in the concert hall completely baffling.
Perhaps because of the lack of competition, perhaps because the limitations of the technical recording are less exposed by Cras’ less detailed orchestration this does emerge as the most successful work on this disc. The technical concerns remain, too close micing reveals every sniff and breath, the various orchestral voices do not merge and mix as they preferably should but the energy and skill of the playing continue to impress. Direct comparison with the older Timpani recording from Jean-Francois Antonioli and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg reveals the earlier recording to be more atmospheric with a warmth and integrated sound that is ultimately preferable. If a painting anaology was to be made the older recording emphasises the pastel watercolours and the new primary oils. Whereas Herzog’s La Mer by timings alone sat at the slower range of tempi here he is markedly quickly in the second and third movements. Cras’ idea is to take the hours of the maritime watch which equate to evening, night and dawn; Quart de 8 à minuit; Houle du large – Ciel couvert se dégageant au coucher du soleil – Rien en vue, Quart de minuit à 4; Très beau temps – Mer très belle – Rien de particulier – Clair de lune, Quart de 4 à 8; La terre en vue droit devant. This simple idea is both neat and effective allowing for two generally reflective movements to be crowned by a dynamic sunrise revealing land straight ahead. In the latter Herzog is 7:03 to Antonioli’s 8:25 which creates a quite different character in the music – with the extra bustling energy in the new performance effective and impressive. In the closing pages of the movement the Appassionato brass play with exciting power as the work sweeps to an exhilarating close.
Given the cost and limited availability of the Timpani recording this new strong performance of this wonderful music is to be very warmly welcomed although given my concerns regarding the other two better known works streaming/sampling of the Cras might be the best option. The quality of Journal de Bord demands attention.
Nick Barnard
Availability: Appassionato Music
