RAVEL. Rapsodie espagnole. L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Ernest Ansermet.

Decca LXT5424 (12 in., 395. 11/c1.).

Ansermet and the Suisse Romande orchestra recorded all three of these works for Decca six years ago, though not all on one disc. They have now done them again, presumably because Decca thought they could thereby improve the quality. The result is a record to treasure. I do not remember a more sensitive and poetic performance of L'apres-midi, and the fluteplayer, Andre Pepin, is deservedly named on the disc label. The two larger works are almost as good. I have always felt that Ravel marked the opening movement of his Rapsodie espagnole a shade too fast, and though it is unreasonable to complain that Anscrrnet follows the metronome marking, I wish this music could sound a little lazier. Ensemble is not impeccable near the start. The last movement which points forward unmistakably to the final Danse generale in Daphnis and Chloe is most exciting. I have not heard this work for some years, and I find it has worn extremely well in the interim.

La Mer has long been a speciality of this conductor. To my mind a far greater work than any that Ravel wrote for orchestra, nevertheless the scoring is much more chancy than Ravel's. It is full of tunes that are all too likely to find themselves smothered by accompanying figures. Ansermet avoids every pitfall, and gives the music a translucence it seldom has. He breaks it up more than Toscanini and most other conductors, inserting short silent pauses not marked by the composer in the first movement at figure 5 and four bars from the end, and in the last at figures 55 and 60 and elsewhere. All these breaks are effective, and it would be interesting to know if Ansermet ever asked Debussy to sanction them. The composer could hardly have failed to admire this outstandingly poetic performance.

The quality on this record is excellent. It was a surprise to hear the " cymbales antiques " tinkling with such clarity in L'apres-midi ; they seldom do so in London. But I can well believe this is how Debussy intended them to sound. Clarity is indeed one of the many virtues of this most enjoyable record. R.F.