The Philadelphia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti - Debussy: La Mer, Chausson: Poeme de l'amour et de la mer, Ravel: Une barque sur l'ocean (2005) CD-Rip

Recorded at the end of Riccardo Muti's tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra, this 1993 disc of late nineteenth and early twentieth century French orchestral music on the subject of the sea is far better than Muti and the Philadelphia's earlier recordings together. After 12 years of sharing the same stage, Muti and the Philadelphia musicians had apparently reached a sort of understanding: he wouldn't ask them to do anything they didn't want to do and they'd do what little he did ask them to do. While the results are far less than ideal, they are also far better than Muti and the Philadelphia's earlier collaborations. In Debussy's La Mer and Ravel's Une barque sur l'océan, the Philadelphia performs with something of its old power, if still little of its old polish. And in Chausson's Poeme de l'amour et de la mer, while it still lacks polish, thanks to the inspiration of Waltraud Meier's gorgeous and glorious soprano, the Philadelphia performs with a great deal of its old fire. For the most part, Muti stays out of the way, which, while it does not enhance the orchestra's ensemble, does allow the Philadelphia the illusion that it doesn't really need the guy on the podium making faces while waving his arms in the air. EMI's later digital sound is clean, lush, and warm.