# Debussy - Images pour orchestre



## AndorFoldes (Aug 25, 2012)

I wanted to make a thread about this piece because I haven't seen that much discussion about it on this forum.

Debussy had already written a suite called Images for piano when he created the independent work Images for orchestra. The composition must have been laborious, as he worked on it from 1905 til 1912, but the result is definitely impressive. Images features a triptych within a triptych, the popular central three movement Iberia suite which is sometimes performed independently of the whole work. Just to clarify, these are the five movements:

1. Gigues
2. Iberia:
i. Par les rues et par les chemins
ii. Les parfums de la nuit
iii. Le matin d'un jour de fete
3. Rondes de printemps

There are many recordings of the work, and some popular ones include those by Previn, Tilson Thomas, Haitink, Munch and Boulez, among many others. So what are your opinions about this work, and what are your favourite recordings?

Finally, a performance I found on YouTube:


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

I think it's a wonderful work, if it's conducted & played well. My favorite movement in the piece is the atmospheric second movement from Iberia: "Les parfums de la nuit"; which Pierre Monteux does very well with the London Symphony Orchestra on Philips:






Here are the 13 best recordings that I've heard over the decades (sorry, but I just couldn't narrow it down to a top 10 list),

--André Cluytens, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, 1964:





--Pierre Boulez, The Cleveland Orchestra, Columbia, 1969, which I prefer to his later DG recording with the same orchestra; though the later recording has better sound:





--Michael Tilson Thomas, with either the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1971 or his later Images with the San Francisco Symphony, which comes in audiophile sound. I prefer the earlier DG performance myself, but the later one would be my top audiophile pick (just ahead of Boulez on DG):





--Jean Martinon, Orchestre national de l'ORTF, 1974: 





--Serge Baudo, Czech Philharmonic, 1978: 
Images pour orchestre - Gigues
Images pour orchestre - Iberia - Par les rues et par les chemins
Images pour orchestre - Iberia - Le matin d´un jour de fete
Images pour orchestre - Rondes de printemps

--Charles Dutoit, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, 1990--Dutoit conducts Debussy with a precision that can make all but the very best conductors (like Monteux) sound imprecise & overly general in this music:
Debussy: Images for Orchestra, L. 122 - 1. Gigues 
Debussy: Images for Orchestra, L. 122 / 2. Ibéria - I. Par les rues et par les chemins
Debussy: Images for Orchestra, L. 122 / 2. Ibéria - II. Les parfums de la nuit

--Pierre Monteux, with the London Symphony Orchestra on Philips, 1963 (or with the San Francisco Symphony on RCA from 1952: which has more spontaneity, but lesser sound): There are times when I feel that Monteux understood Debussy's score better than any other conductor on record:

Images, L. 118a: I. Gigues
Debussy: Images For Orchestra, L. 122 / 2. Ibéria - 1. Par les rues et par les chemins
Debussy, Images for orchestra , 1,,5, Monteux, cond
Images pour orchestre, L. 122: I. Gigues

--Ataúlfo Argenta, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, 1957--with his extensive experience conducting music of the Iberian peninsula, Argenta brings out the Spanish flavors & influences in this music as authentically as anyone:
Debussy: Images For Orchestra, L. 122 - 1. Gigues 
Debussy: Images For Orchestra, L. 122 - 2. Ibéria

--Eduard van Beinum, Concertgebouw Orchestra, 1954:
Debussy: Images For Orchestra, L. 122 - 1. Gigues

--Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra,1957:
Images for Orchestra: Gigues
Images for Orchestra, L. 122: Iberia, No. 2: Par les rues et par les chemins
Images for Orchestra, L. 122: Iberia, No. 2: Les parfums de la nuit

--Bernard Haitink, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, 1977: Claude Debussy, Images pour orchestre, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Haitink

--Andre Previn, London Symphony Orchestra, 1979 (an early digital recording)--this is one of the best records that Previn made during his career, IMO:
Images pour orchestre, CD 118, L. 122, Pt. 1 "Gigues"
Andre Previn conducts Debussy

--A partial recording: Claudio Abbado, London Symphony Orchestra--No. 2: "Iberia", 1987: 
Claudio Abbado "Images pour Orchestre No 2 "Iberia" Debussy


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## AndorFoldes (Aug 25, 2012)

@Josquin13, thank you for this lovely and comprehensive list of recordings of Images! I don't think I can add much to your list, other than offering some observations of my own about the recordings.

I'm not that fond of the Tilson Thomas SFSO recording that you mentioned as the best audiophile choice. It's hard to describe why other than to say that it's just a matter of personal opinion, but maybe the orchestra just sounds a little bit heavy and soft-edged. I would rather take the excellent recording that Tilson Thomas did with the BSO, that must be close to a top recommendation.

Boulez strikes me as a little too analytical in some music, and Debussy is one of those cases. I know he is highly regarded and a top choice for many people, but again it simply comes down to opinion.

Martinon's Debussy performances are wonderful, if only they were better recorded! Definitely not an audiophile choice, but worth hearing regardless.

Your list is a great way to explore the piece, so I will have a listen to some versions that are less familiar to me.


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## Dirge (Apr 10, 2012)

Claude DEBUSSY: _*Images pour orchestre*_ (1905–12)
:: Monteux/SFSO [RCA ’51]

This recording sounds like the soundtrack to one of those old travelogue films of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s—the sights and sounds of England, Spain, and France in this case … I can almost hear José Iturbi narrating as I listen to _Ibéria_. The playing of the SFSO is a bit rough-hewn, as is the sound of the RCA recording, but Monteux conjures up a colorful and animated performance of much verve and forward sweep that carries you along—a marked contrast with the poise and deliberateness of his more polished and Zen-like remake with the LSO [Philips ’63], which is conspicuous in its concern for balance/equilibrium and secondary voices and colors. Despite the differences, phrasing somehow remains identifiably that of Monteux in both cases, and there’s always a certain lilt underlying the proceedings. The highlight is the unvarnished/unabashedly naked account of “Les parfums de la nuit,” which is all the more evocative for Monteux and orchestra not putting on an “impressionistic” façade. All that said, and as much as I like the performance, this is not a generally recommendable recording of _Images_, as I suspect that most listeners will be unable to get past the rough-hewn playing and sound in such a fundamentally colorful and vivid and atmospheric work.

For a fascinatingly sensual, red-blooded alternative view of _Ibéria _alone, Stokowski/Orchestre National de la RDF [EMI ’58] is worth a listen.


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