Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Yoav Talmi - Children's Corner: Debussy Orchestrations (2007)

This disc has everything going for it: fascinating repertoire, terrific performances, and tremendous sound. The repertoire consists entirely of orchestrations by diverse arrangers of Debussy piano works, some for two hands, some for four hands, some well known, some barely heard of. The program opens with André Caplet's evanescent Children's Corner and closes with his luminous Clair de lune and in between it includes Ernest Ansermet's precise Six Épigraphes antiques, Ravel's radiant Sarabande and Danse, Henri Busser's romantic Petite Suite and Le Soirée dans Grenade, plus Leopold Stokowski's heavily atmospheric Clair de lune. The performances are uniformly excellent. Yoav Talmi is sensitive to Debussy's particular style of phrasing and textures, and he leads the Orchestre symphonique de Québec in a performance full of glowing colors, buoyant rhythms, and irresistible lyrical charm. And the sound is unvaryingly outstanding. Recorded in super audio surround sound, these performances are completely enveloping yet utterly clean and amazingly natural. Anyone interested in unusual Debussy, superb performances, and superlative recordings need not hesitate.