Crunching the numbers

Armin Jordan: The French Symphonic Recordings (13 CDs)

I can easily recommend this 13-disc box set of conductor Armin Jordan for someone looking to explore the French symphonic repertoire. The sound is quite good in late analog and early digital. Generous timings: 75 minutes per disc. The performances consistently make me smile. The sly trombone in Ravel's Boléro almost makes this recording my favorite, marred only by an editing splice at 3:41. It is subtle, but it adds a fraction of a beat to the otherwise persistent tempo.

There is a satisfying amount of greatest hits: lots of Ravel and Debussy, Dukas' Sorcerer's Apprentice, Fauré's Pelléas et Mélisande. There are treasures in the deeper cuts as well: bass Philippe Huttenlocher is uncredited in Ravel's Don Quichotte songs. It is wonderful material that serves as a launching point for further exploration. (Seek out José van Dam singing the same work – what a killer voice.)

Here is a breakdown of the contents of this set, presented as proportions of the total time (16h 16m 44s).

Composers

23.5% – Ravel

20.5% – Debussy

12.6% – Franck

10.2% – Chausson

9.2% – Dukas

8.8% – Fauré

5.5% – Chabrier

2.9% – Delage

2.7% – Jaubert

2.5% – Lekeu

1.6% – Rabaud

Orchestras

45.6% – Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

16.0% – Sinfonieorchester Basel

10.0% – Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne

8.6% – Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo

6.4% – Kammer Ensemble de Paris

5.5% – Orchestre National de France

5.0% – Orchestre National de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo

2.9% – Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique

Recording years

20.9% – 1977-1981 (late analog, including Ravel with Orch. Lausanne)

52.1% – 1982-1986 (the digital boom, including Ravel remakes with Suisse Romande)

20.6% – 1987-1991 (more digital, including the core Debussy catalog)

6.4% – 1994 (vocal album with Felicity Lott)