Essential Debussy: 26 of His Greatest Masterpieces.

Various artists. DG 289 472 505-2 (2-disc set).

Times are hard all over the music industry, and it seems like the classical music industry is seeing the brunt of the impact. Sony has practically abandoned its classical market, giants EMI and Philips are slowing down, Decca and DG have fewer new releases each month, and Michael Tilson Thomas is so mad at RCA for not continuing their contract, he and his San Francisco .players have formed their own recording company. Seems like only Telarc and Naxos keep plugging along.

In any case, the bigger companies are finding that there is more money in their back catalog than in re-recording the same repertoire with expensive orchestras, so they have all been doing more reissues than creating brand-new releases. Thank goodness for some small favors, at least we're getting some of the best older material than ever in greater quantity for lower prices. This Essential Debussy from DG is a case in point. It contains twenty-six of the composer's most popular works from some of DG's biggest stars.

The highlight of the two-disc set is probably Herbert von Karajan's mid-sixties' Berlin rendition of "La Mer." ...