Mer(s)

Released in 2023 under the Appassionato label, this recording brings together three distinct musical evocations of the sea: Claude Debussy's La mer, Paul Dukas's La Péri, and Jean Cras's Journal de bord. The album is an ambitious project by the chamber orchestra Appassionato, led by conductor Mathieu Herzog, who sought to highlight the interplay between French Impressionist color and symphonic structure by utilizing a chamber-sized ensemble to achieve greater transparency and intimacy in these traditionally large-scale works.

The album reflects Herzog’s ongoing focus on re-examining the canonical French repertoire through a more focused, historically informed lens. By pairing the well-known masterpieces of Debussy and Dukas with the less frequently performed, seafaring-inspired works of Jean Cras—a composer who was also a career naval officer—the collection invites listeners to explore how different musical languages capture the movement and atmosphere of the ocean. Upon its release, the recording was noted by critics for its precision and its commitment to revealing the intricate instrumental textures often lost in larger orchestral interpretations.