Superior played-in recordings are no guarantee of delivering a reference CD

The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra currently has an unprecedented luxury: it is releasing CDs on two labels at the same time. How is that possible? The orchestra signed under its own name to BIS Records, the label with which the eccentric owner Von Bahr releases one extraordinary recording after another, while chief conductor Yannick Néze-Séguin is under contract to EMI as maestro in the old-fashioned way. When the RPhO was still led by Valeri Gergyev, hardly any significant recordings were made. According to some, Philips Classics, long since merged into Universal Music, was a declared opponent of collaboration with the RPhO, although no one said so out loud.

Incidentally, the only major recording realised on this label (in 1996) is a gem. The orchestra made a standard recording of Prokofiev's 'Ivan the Terrible' with Gergiev. This recording may count as the starting point for this work and for the orchestra. Thus the RPhO sounds in top condition in its own hall, the main hall of concert hall de Doelen. Based on this recording, it is impossible to have any reservations about the qualities of this orchestra.

Since then, the orchestra has been drastically rejuvenated but the brilliance has remained, as witnessed by two CDs. The recordings that followed the concert with which Nézet-Séguin made a successful bid for the chief conductorship are a wonderful testimony to his ability. The CD includes works by Ravel, and throws caution to the wind with the 2nd suite from the dog-eared ballet 'Daphnis et Chloë. With this, Yannick won the prize at the time and it is audible on this CD how that came about. The performance is top-notch, Ravel at his best, also in the other works. 'Valses nobles et Sentimentales', 'La Valse' and the 'Cinq pièces enfantines' from 'Ma Mêre l' Oye' are performed at a high level without exception. This disc was brought to EMI in 2007 with recordings taking place at the Doelen.

A SACD hybrid recording of Berlioz' 'Symphonie fantastique' and '(La mort de) Cléopatre'. With the symphony, the RPhO has often scored high in the hall; memorable is a series of concerts conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. The latter did his best to gather the six harps prescribed by Berlioz and had the bells from the witches' Sabbath driven onto the stage while striking. Nézet-Séguin is also up to a lot. The symphony is transparent when necessary ( in 'Un bal') and whips up to stormy proportions at the thunderstorm in the 'Scène aux champs' and in the 'Songse d' une nuit du Sabbath'. Anna Caterina Antonacci is a compelling Cleopatra (in which, incidentally, Berlioz delightfully takes on his favourite writer, Shakespeare). The performance is impeccable and at times it is pure excitement popping out of the speakers.

Yet neither CD is of the very highest quality in terms of recording, as was the case in that fine Prokofjeff recording. Nor could it be otherwise under the production of Anne Barry and recording engineer Erdo Groot. With the Ravel recordings, although made in de Doelen, something is not right. Too much tinkering with the soundstage was done at the mixing desk afterwards. The RPhO's ragged edges and the relative sharpness of the Doelen acoustics have been filtered out. This makes the RPhO seem too much pressed into the straitjacket of a sales cannon. It sounds too slick and polished, which is not how you experience this orchestra in the hall. For the Berlioz recordings, we had to divert to Studio 5 on the grounds of the Muziekcentrum van de Omroep. There they have superior recording technology, and we should know it: the enumeration of all cables and plugs used in accompanying booklets is raised to bizarre proportions. However, all this technology cannot hide the fact that the limited space of the studio can be heard in the recording. Especially the back of the orchestra (timpani and percussion) pops up against the walls, while in the middle voices in the strings, with violas and cellos, the sound image is too soft and dry.

And then there are the covers. These - like, incidentally, the RPhO's redesigned logos and layout for printed matter - exude too much of the cosy spirit of the 1970s. Any designer will tell you that the spot colour yellow in posters and leaflets does not work. The retro layout of the CD covers may refer to the stardom the labels still managed to score with thirty years ago, but it is precisely this marketing view that also heralded their near demise at the turn of the millennium. The quest for stars apparently cannot be unlearned by a label, even with Nézet-Séguin. He figures more prominently on the front cover than the name of the composer and orchestra. Too bad, imagination and taste are far to be found here, but it does reflect exactly how the flag is flying in the CD industry.

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin: Works by Maurice Ravel: EMI Classics (2007); works by Hector Berlioz: BIS Records (2010)