Tracklist

1	La Péri
2	2 The Isle of the Dead, Op. 29

Credits

• Conductor – Ernest Ansermet
• Orchestra – L’Orchestre de la Suisse

Notes

Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873-1943)
The Isle of the Dead, Op.29 [19:33] ¹
Paul DUKAS (1865-1935)
La Péri [17:25] ¹
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
Six Épigraphes antiques [15:06] ²
Jeux [17:19] ²
L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande/Ernest Ansermet ¹
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra/Ernest Ansermet ²
rec. 1953 (Debussy), Victoria Hall, Geneva: 1954 (Dukas, Rachmaninoff), La Maison de la Mutualité, Paris

It wasn’t all the Suisse Romande. Here he also directs the Paris Conservatoire in Rachmaninov and Dukas. The Isle of the Dead was included in the Ansermet volume in the Great Conductors of the Twentieth Century series. It was also in the Australian Eloquence series. It has a powerfully individual approach though he was not one to cultivate bass-up sonorities, preferring to clarify rather than saturate the string choirs. Meanwhile the Dukas and the Debussy – along with Danse Macabre and the Sorcerer’s Apprentice were all reissued back in 2004 on Testament (SBT 1324). Doubtless it’s true that this is the first international Decca release of Le Péri, as noted in the booklet, but given the existence of the Testament reissue over a decade ago I’m not sure that’s such a pressing claim.

Other versions

Category	Artist	Title (Format)	Label	Category	Country	Year
LL-1155	Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre De La Société Des Concerts Du Conservatoire, Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff, Paul Dukas	Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre De La Société Des Concerts Du Conservatoire, Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff, Paul Dukas - The Isle Of The Dead / La Peri ‎(LP, Album, Mono)	London Records	LL-1155	UK & US	Unknown