Anima Eterna Brugge . Jos van Immerseel

It is several years since Jos van Immerseel and his Anima Eterna recorded historically justified versions of Ravel's Second Piano Concerto, 'Bolero' and 'La valse'. Now it is the turn of the composer's song cycle 'Shéhérazade', which dates from 1903. The sultry vocal lines are sung by the Canadian star soprano Karina Gauvin. In the three songs - settings of poems by Ravel's poet-friend Tristan Klingsor - she tells of exotic desires, Eastern visions and oriental magic flutes. Ravel's exceptional talent for orchestration is matched by Debussy's 'Images pour orchestre'. Debussy, too, drew inspiration from 'foreign parts', albeit that he stayed appreciably closer to home than his compatriot and contemporary. In the first part, 'Gigues', we hear snatches of English folk music; 'Iberia' bursts with gallant Spanish dance rhythms and clacking castanets. In 'La mer', Debussy paints sea vistas in washes of orchestral pastels. The liquid sounds of the flute in 'Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune' form the preamble to a bewitching poem in sound, after Stéphane Mallaramé's verses of the same name.