DEBUSSY: “Jeux,” “Images pour Orchestre.” Orchestre de...

DEBUSSY: “Jeux,” “Images pour Orchestre.” Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Armin Jordan. Erato ECD-75541. Jordan’s Debussy represents a superior blend of pulse and texture. His reading of “Jeux,” created for Nijinsky’s 1913 “tennis match” ballet, doesn’t slight clarification of the 18-minute score’s innovative harmonics, but the theatrical thrust of the performance makes it an absorbing experience. The three “Images” seem adequately proportioned, but a bit cautious in tossing around the orchestral paint pot, possibly because Jordan’s Geneva-based organization misses the commanding technical luster of other orchestras who have attempted this repertory.