The good folk of the Buffalo Philharmonic and its long-serving, admirably adventurous music director JoAnn Falletta take us on a colourful and languorous trip to Spain as essayed by French masters – details and listening tracks linked-to below – beginning with superb Debussy (Ibéria), full of energy, rhythmic snap, brilliant detail, and beauty of atmospheric/suggestive phrase. First-class sound, too, as throughout, and with similar performance observations for the remainder of the programme, whether Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso and, especially, his tricky Rapsodie espagnole, or Jacques Ibert’s Escales, a relative rarity these days for reasons I cannot offer: Escales is terrific, something of a travelogue, scintillating and painterly here, ending deliriously. Naxos 8.574615. Don’t miss!

https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.574615

(Ibert’s Escales qualifies as “Music That Time Forgot”.)

JoAnn Falletta & the Buffalo Philharmonic, with Amy Porter and Nikki Chooi, record music by Lukas Foss for Naxos.

JoAnn Falletta & the Buffalo Philharmonic record Kodály – Háry János, Summer Evening, Symphony in C – for Naxos.

JoAnn Falletta & the Buffalo Philharmonic record Florent Schmitt for Naxos.