Ravel, Debussy

Thomas Zehetmair opens this Ravel/Debussy collection with a performance of Ravel's Tzigane that sets out to be both supercharged and seductive. That urge to supercharge is reflected in the other works: Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte and Tombeau de Couperin; and Debussy's Petite suite (as orchestrated by Büsser), Danses sacrée et profane, Sarabande and Danse (these last two orchestrated by Ravel). There's an intensity of characterisation which engenders the sense that the music is always being driven purposefully, even if some of the point-making can come to seem exaggerated. The extreme vividness can come to seem like the saturated colouring of some video displays, slightly wearing after the immediate appeal wears off. url.ie/8fjv