greg@olivej.UUCP (Greg Paley) (06/27/84)
Although I've been listening to it for years, I've never gotten tired of hearing Debussy's "La Mer". I continue to be amazed by the expressive force communicated with such economy of means. I've recently had chance to hear a few outstanding recordings. One is Michael Tilson Thomas' on CBS (digital) with the outstanding Phiharmonia Orchestra. The other is Colin Davis' with the Boston Symphony on Philips (digital). The Davis performance is notable for beautifully suave moulding of phrase and silky orchestral playing. Very seductive to the ear. The Thomas performance I find even greater, and in fact would place it among my all-time favorite recordings of this work (Toscanini, Cantelli, Boulez). His balancing of the orchestra results in playing which preserves unity yet manages to bring out the individual strands of the music that is like none other I've heard. I've heard this on vinyl LP, not CD and, like most other digital recordings, I find it necessary to reduce the treble by about 5 notches on my Hafler 110 to get listenable sound. I highly recommend the CBS disk (which may be better in CD format) for those who share my enthusiasm for this work. - Greg Paley