Stephen Pritchard 

Roussel, Debussy, Poulenc: Bacchus et Ariane, Six épigraphes antiques, Les Biches CD review – a French feast

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande/Yamada(Pentatone)
  
  

‘Tumultuous’: conductor Kazuki Yamada.
‘Tumultuous’: conductor Kazuki Yamada. Photograph: Marco Borggreve

The playing on this disc from the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is simply superb: alert, precise strings, scampering woodwind and sparkling brass bring real energy to Roussel’s Bacchus et Ariane ballet suite which comes surging through the speakers in a tumultuous reading from Kazuki Yamada. Profound contrast is offered in Debussy’s pellucid piano duet Six épigraphes antiques, delicately orchestrated by the Suisse Romande’s founder conductor Ernest Ansermet, before the energy returns in Poulenc’s cheeky, irreverent dance suite from Les Biches. Highly recommended.

 

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