Page 465 - Liverpool Philharmonic 22-23 Season Coverage Book

same goes for the second suite from Roussel’s ballet Bacchus et Ariane. Indeed, in
‘Ariane’s dance’, more could have been made of the dynamic variations for the solo
violin and wind instruments.

Debussy’s faun is presented in a suitable atmosphere of ecstatic languor. One or two
details are not quite as they should be (breaking Debussy’s phrasing in bars 13-14 is
surely unnecessary?), but the tone of the orchestra’s principal flute player Cormac
Henry, pure and innocent with only the barest hint of vibrato, is in line with the one
for which the composer would have been writing in the 1890s.

For Jeux, though, respectful honesty alone is not enough. Debussy said it was
written for an orchestra ‘without feet’ – not one of amputees, he was quick to explain,
but one ‘lit from behind’ as often in Parsifal. As the title tells us, it should be playful
and tease us with possibilities that may or may not be realised. Also, this
performance is not wholly accurate over dynamics and tempos, strangely ignoring
the ‘en retenant’ into fig.61, a crucial moment where for the first time the three
dancers come together. It’s a hard work to bring off, and Ravel’s protégé and friend
Manuel Rosenthal refused to take the risk of conducting it until he was in his fifties.
So, at 42, Domingo Hindoyan has time on his side.

Roger Nichols