Search - A La Francaise :: Panorama: A La Francaise

All the French chestnuts, well roasted, at a super-budget pr

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 01/12/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you are passing by and notice that this DG Panorama two-fer is selling used for pennies, it's worth a listen. DG has put forward some of their star conductors in this repertoire (Levine in Berlioz, Dutoit in Honegger and Ibert, Martinon in Debussy, Ozawa in Ravel). Nothing here is so outstanding as to merit five stars, with the possible exception of Levine's Benevenuto Cellini Over. and Karajan's Afternoon of a Faun, but everything is good. Even Daniel Barenboim does a respectable job with the Danse Macabre and Saint-Saens' ghostly tone poem Chasseur Maudit (which needs to be heard under Munch for maximum thrills). Sonics are fine, too."