GREAT RECORDINGS phase 12

DEBUSSY: LA MER,
3 NOCTURNES
RAVEL: ALBORADA DEL
GRACIOSO
DAPHNIS ET CHLOÉ, SUITE No.2
Philharmonia Orchestra & Choir
Carlo Maria Giulini

5 62746 2

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'Giulini's readings are superb, with an unerring instinct for tempo, rhythmic flow, phrasing, balance and instrumental subtlety, and the Philharmonia surpasses itself, with a brilliance and delicacy which make the Alborada in particular one of the most ravishing performances I have ever heard.' (Gramophone)

The great Italian conductor Carlo Maria Giulini was brought to London in 1955 by Walter Legge to work with the Philharmonia Orchestra, which Legge had founded ten years earlier. Giulini has described his time with the Philharmonia as 'very, very beautiful'.

In a famously select repertoire, Giulini conducted few works from the 20th century, but he relished the orchestral sound world of (early) Stravinsky, Falla, Debussy and Ravel.

This CD brings together superb recordings, made when the Giulini/Philharmonia partnership was at its height, of famous scores by Debussy and Ravel. Critical reaction to the performances on the two original LPs was clear: 'superlative playing' in the Debussy and a Ravel disc of 'quite exceptional quality'.