This release of a normal double CD (as opposed to book-discs) is worth the detour for its program. Known works: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Danse Macabre, España. Attendance welcome: The cursed hunter from Frank, Istar from Indy, Night procession by Rabaud, Viviane of Chausson, Of a spring morning by Lili Boulanger. And discoveries: Arteveld of Guiraud, The Sleeping Beauty by Bruneau or Night and love by Augusta Holmès, completing a perfect first CD. The second, a little more vaporous, remains interesting: Cleopatra’s dream by Mel Bonis, To the stars by Henri Duparc, mystical dance by Charlotte Sohy, All Saints’ Day by Victorin Joncières. Sohy and Joncières stand out once again. But the joy of discovery should not elude the question that also arose for Bianconi’s Ravel at La Dolce Volta: what is this sound? Engineer, conductor, orchestra: who, here, is really responsible for the lack of subtlety, magic, climates, textures, thrills of an exciting, but one-dimensional CD?
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