Gramophone Magazine
February 2025
Editor's Choice

The Nash Ensemble

Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, CD 87 (Arr. Walter for Ensemble)
Violin Sonata in G Minor, CD 148
Sonata for Flute, Viola & Harp, CD 145
Cello Sonata in D Minor, CD 144
String Quartet in G Minor, CD 91

The personnel may have changed over the years but the musical standards remain reassuringly high. Currently celebrating its 60th anniversary season, The Nash Ensemble here delivers perfectly judged accounts of Debussy's String Quartet & Sonatas.

Besides that early quartet and the three sonatas which date from the composer's final years, the programme also includes a rare outing for David Walter's chamber ensemble arrangement of the Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune.

Scored for twelve players (single strings and winds, plus harp and crotales), this is an idiomatic version which loses none of the mastery and languor of the orchestral original. This album again demonstrates the truth of The Sunday Times's evaluation of the Nash: 'chamber music royalty'.

From two players to twelve: few ensembles could respond with equal authority to the very varied demands made by this wonderful collection of Debussy's chamber music. But then, few ensembles can stand comparison with the Nash, whose members continue to set the standards across a dauntingly wide repertoire. A realization of the Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune for chamber ensemble adds to this album's more familiar attractions of the string quartet and three sonatas.

"Debussy’s sole String Quartet ends the disc...The Nash’s fleet-footed reading is enormously enjoyable, as is this entire disc." - Gramophone Magazine, February 2025