Though there’s no shortage of good versions of Paul Dukas’s three principal orchestral works already available on disc, there’s certainly room for another at bargain price, especially when it’s played with the energy and vivid characterisation that Jean-Luc Tingaud and the RTE Symphony bring to it. In the poème dansé La Péri – arguably his greatest achievement and one of the neglected masterpieces of the early 20th century – Dukas’s music sometimes comes close to the so-called impressionism of Debussy and Ravel. But while never neglecting those colouristic aspects, Tingaud’s big-boned performances show how its stylistic roots reach back into a much wider range of 19th-century European models. There are hints of Borodin as well as the inevitable César Franck in his beautifully judged reading of the Symphony in C, while L’Apprenti Sorcier benefits from vividly characterised bassoon solos, and pungent brass. Perhaps the sound could have a bit more sheen to it at times, especially in La Péri, which is preceded by the fanfare that Dukas wrote for the first performance, but that’s a minor quibble.
