This is Ansermet and the OSR at a very high level together. The sound is vintage Roy Wallace engineering for Decca: rock solid imaging, set in a warm, resonant acoustic. Perhaps not the most outstanding example of Wallace's skills (there is an subtle lack of overall transparency to the sound which may well be the tape available to HDTT), but nice nonetheless.
In Pelléas et Mélisande, Ansermet's tempi are well judged, his phrasing elegant with long delicate line, and the OSR play beautifully -- a good example of an orchestra and leader having worked together for so long. Still, this is not the music I've come to this recording for, its the next...
Everything comes to life with Masques et Bergamasques. Lightness, cheer, and wry good humor abound. The orchestra fairly bounces with just-barely-controlled energy. THIS is the work I've come for in this album. I'm not at all sure anyone does this better.
Ah, and then we come to that gem, Debussy's Petite Suite. Here, the performance and recording simply glow--superb, polished, deeply immersive. This is worth the price of admission; it's a performance that should be in every library.
As much as I like this recording, and I really do, I dropped one star simply because there is ever so slightly less transparency to the sound of this tape than we've heard on some other Decca transfers HDTT has been able to create for us. But don't let that deter you. These are wonderful performances (especially Masques), exceptionally well recorded by Roy Wallace.
24/352.8 DXD PCM Flac Digital Download
