The prestigious Lucerne Festival, which has seen, and still today showcases, the very best conductors, soloists and orchestras on the planet, continues to publish its exceptional archives. This new offering displays the sumptuous return of Armin Jordan who led the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande between 1985 and 1997 and gave a second “golden age” to the Genovese ensemble after the fruitful years of Ansermet (1918-1967).
With his Germanic and Latin cultural heritage, Armin Jordan took pleasure in gracing works with a generous and tormented lyricism. His only two appearances at the podium of the ancient Kunsthaus at the festival of his birth town are brought together here with his superb recordings created in 1988 and 1994. Here we find his stunning sense of colour and unique mix of fluidity, transparence and vigour which he made his own.
After Prelude to the afternoon of a Faun with its hazy poeticism, we discover the Second Suite of Bacchus and Arriadne by Albert Roussel led by a beating drum with a touring OSR at the top of its game. The strength of this interpretation perfectly fills a gap as Jordan had never recorded this flamboyant work in studio. Such is not the case with Poème de l’amour et de la mer which was recorded in Monte-Carlo for Erato with Jessye Norman.
In this 1994 Lucerne concert, he directed his dear companion Felicity Lott. While the voice of this English cantata singer doesn’t have the amber-scented and sensual colour of her American colleague, she nevertheless possesses a timbre of perfect harmony with the style and colour of the Chausson conductor. Finally, one can admire Ansermet’s beautiful orchestration recorded in 1932 with Claude Debussy’s Six Épigraphes Antiques where he displayed the most intricate of details as much as Jordan perfectly translates its flourishes and subtleties. © François Hudry/Qobuz