Faure: Requiem/Pelleas Et Melisande/Pavane

A fine French touch is evident in this collaboration between the Swiss- born conductor Charles Dutoit and his Canadian orchestra. They give a highly polished performance of the standard Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, a reading both suave and supple that is characterized throughout by a remarkable beauty of sound. Emphasizing the idyllic aspect of Fauré's conception, Dutoit is at his best in the suite's inner movements. The recording is ideally atmospheric and well detailed, and, combined with Fauré's Requiem, is the preferred one. --Ted Libbey