CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918): Orchestral Music, Vol. 6 - Suite bergamasque (orch. Gustave Cloez [1890-1970] and André Caplet [1878-1925]), Petite Suite, Printemps (both orch. Henri Büsser [1872-1973]), En blanc et noir (orch. Robin Holloway [b.1943]), Symphony in B Minor (orch. Tony Finno [b.1952]).

Description: Two works here appear to be first recordings: Holloway's 2007 transcription of the late, war-haunted two-piano En blanc et noir of 1915, commissioned by Michael Tilson Thomas for the San Francisco Symphony. At 17:32, this is the longest work here and, as Holloway himself says, "aims at fidelity to the spirit of Debussy's wonderful work, rather than to the letter of his orchestral practice" as he points out that the work is so late that one can't tell how Debussy would have approached orchestrating it. Last month we had two movements of Debussy's 1880 symphony in piano duo form (a 2004 book on Debussy says that the Andante cantabile is "tentatively identified" as belonging to the symphony); here we have an American composer/arranger's orchestration of the Allegro ben marcato movement which sounds as good as you thought it would when you heard the duo piano version last month! From the Suite bergamasque, only Caplet's orchestration of Clair de lune is well-known; the other three movements, in Cloez' orchestration, are not otherwise available on CD. Orchestre National de Lyon; Jun Märkl.