The new format is two twofers. The first starts as it means to go on, with a no-nonsense La Mer. Martinon had at his command a notoriously recalcitrant orchestral beast in the shape of the Orchestre National de l’ORTF but it’s a measure of his convincing control that they play so consistently well for him. He encourages from them a clarity, a distinct "separation of the powers" when it comes to sectional discipline – no lazy bleaching of sonorities - and very little overtly gaudy expression. In pianistic terms his approach reminds me of George Copeland, not Walter Gieseking; if the orchestra was a piano its feet would be off the pedal. It means of course that there’s ultimately a want of sheer sheen and colour but to compensate there’s no rhythmic flaccidity. Everything keeps moving nicely. But Martinon certainly encourages some vivid wind playing in the Jeux de vagues; this is a bracing, forward-moving La Mer.

The Trois Nocturnes feature something of a reprise – attractively and athletically lean sonorities conjoined with a decisive sense of tempo relationships. It’s undoubtedly the case that many will miss say, Ormandy’s sense of glamour and vitality – his evocative surface painting –in Fêtes. And if one is objective Prélude à l’Après-Midi d’un Faune will stand more as a corrective to overtly romanticised languor rather than as a necessarily recommendable recording in its own right. There’s little of Beecham’s famously erotic glamour.

But one of Martinon’s greatest strengths in this repertoire was the immediate establishment of a firm rhythm. This is coupled with real atmosphere in Jeux. One senses however that in Images Martinon is not given quite the free rein he seeks, that he is hindered by an orchestra that can’t quite give him the free spiritedness he is asking for – especially in Iberia. Still there is vitality – and a nice big fat trumpet – in Par les rues et par les chemins. If criticisms need to be established about this cycle they will centre on a lack of explicit string tone and weight in these readings. For all the intimacy of Les parfums de la nuit the strings lack the last ounce of evocative lusciousness that they ideally need here. I should add as a rider that Martinon would doubtless argue that this is not quite what he wanted.

If you seek swathes of colour and outsize personality in your Debussy you may find that Martinon under-characterises. If however you are satisfied with performances that are lucid, imaginative, thoughtful and unselfconscious then you will be very happy with Martinon. He has a special understanding of this – and allied – repertoire and his clarity and care in balance and dynamics are merely two of his great virtues in Debussy conducting. That’s why these performances exist in multiple competing editions – and long may they continue to do so.

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International