This enterprising series has been compromised since inception by heavy-handed, so-so interpretation from conductor Sylvain Cambreling. Petrushka is inexcusably slow and dull, especially in the two outer “crowd scene” tableaux. There’s scant sense of celebration, insufficient rhythmic buoyancy, and little glitter to the sound. Florent Schmitt’s tone poem is much darker and you would think it would be more suitable to Cambreling’s approach, but not so. The climaxes tend to fizzle rather than shock–just listen to Martinon on EMI, Fischer on Hyperion (also slow-ish but immensely powerful), or Paray, to hear how eruptive and exciting this music ought to sound.
The only piece that responds comparatively well to Cambreling’s pervasive languor is Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, but even here spending ten and a half dreamy minutes in this particular arcadian paradise is pushing it. There’s more movement and energy to this music than Cambreling finds here. Good sound, but the bottom line is that this series will never get off the ground unless Cambreling and his forces wake up and deliver performances that capture the vibrant, radical spirit of turn-of-the-century Paris.
