Fans of André Cluytens will welcome this worthwhile release. While the Turin Radio Orchestra hardly was a great orchestra in 1962, Cluytens has it playing very well indeed in what must have been very unusual repertoire. There are so few recordings available of the lovely cantata L’Enfant prodigue that even were this performance less good it probably would be worth having; but with a terrific line-up of soloists in Jeanine Micheau (misspelled on the booklet cover!) and Michel Sénéchal in particular, I can recommend this disc for the Debussy alone. Happily, the Honegger is not a mixed blessing: it’s a very exciting performance with a positively crushing account of the apocalyptic finale. The live audience is decently behaved, and the stereo sound is really very good for the period and source–perfectly listenable, with no need for apologies. This makes an important addition to Cluytens’ discography–a real collector’s item.
