# Quick Question: Boulez La Mer



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

In the early '70, Boulez recorded a La Mer with Cleveland for Columbia that became my go-to performance. A few years later, I noticed the same forces had a La Mer on DGG. Was that the same performance that had somehow been re-licensed? Or did they re-record it for some reason? And if so, is there an significant (audible) difference?


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

MarkW said:


> In the early '70, Boulez recorded a La Mer with Cleveland for Columbia that became my go-to performance. A few years later, I noticed the same forces had a La Mer on DGG. Was that the same performance that had somehow been re-licensed? Or did they re-record it for some reason? And if so, is there an significant (audible) difference?


 Debussy: La Mer/ New Philharmonia Orchestra
Pierre Boulez is the Sony one

Cleveland Orchestra
Pierre Boulez
Recorded: 1993-03-07
Recording Venue: Masonic Auditorium, Cleveland
DG one.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

The original CBS recording of _La Mer_ that Boulez made with the New Philharmonia is better in my opinion, tighter; and the recording itself is warmer that the DG processing which to me can sound a bit too polished and sterile. The DG recording with the Cleveland Orchestra is good too, though; but if you're on a budget and you already have CBS/New Philharmonia you needn't have both unless you want it for one of the other tracks or are a Boulez collector.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Thanks, guys. I was misremembering the New Philharmonia one because in the early 1970s I went to a Boulez/Cleveland concert in Symphony Hall that consisted of his current greatest hits: La Mer, Miraculous Mandarin Suite, and Le Sacre... !


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