Fleur de Paris – Music by Michel Legrand, R.S. Louiguy, Satie, Debussy, Poulenc, Faure, and others – The Twelve Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic – EMI Classics

Fleur de Paris – Music by MICHEL LEGRAND, R.S. LOUIGUY, SATIE, DEBUSSY, POULENC, FAURE and others [19 tracks] – The Twelve Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic – EMI Classics 08501, 63:56 ***(*):
There is something always deliciously euphonious about 12 cellists playing together, especially when it is essentially the entire cello section of arguably the greatest orchestra in the world, the Berlin Philharmonic.
The program consists of classical music favorites like Faure’s Pavane and Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante defunte, Debussy’s Clair de lune (quite exquisite), Satie’s Gymnopedie No. 1 (unexpectedly dour), and finishes with an arrangement of Poulenc’s 18-minute Figure humaine, written in 1943 as a hymn to freedom from occupied France. It is so less poignant and emotionally powerful than the original, but still manages to capture a little of the heartfelt feeling behind the music.
The concert begins with a syrupy reading of “Sous les ponts de Paris.” In between there are favorites by Edith Piaf (a weepy “La vie en rose”), and Michel Legrand. The title tune by Maurice Vandair, composed in 1945 and originally sung by Maurice Chevalier, has a sense of the war finally being over and sounds like it would have fit in nicely at Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca.
The sweetish sound is not as decadently rich as 12-cello recordings often are, perhaps because of the breathing room of the live recordings made by NDR (North German Radio) at the 2010 Schleswig Holstein Music Festival.

— Laurence Vittes