Lamoureux Concerts Orchestra, Yutaka Sado - Ibert: Escales & Divertissement (2000)

This is a budget-priced disc with several major Ibert works. The interpretations are terrific, the playing is fine, and the sound is some of the best I've heard from Naxos. Its main competition - Martinon - is not available. While you might find a comparable Escales or Divertissement, you probably won't find them on the same disc, and the other works aren't as easy to get. If you like Ibert or want to try him, this a must.

For those who need a little more persuading, the 39-year-old Yutaka Sado studied with Bernstein and Ozawa, and here he blends their finest qualities and avoids their weaknesses. He finds good tempos and allows his players freedom of expression in well thought out structures. Ibert sets instrumental choirs against each other to create clear, hold, and definable colors, but there is a lot of the impressionist in him, and a conductor can miss that. Sado leans to the impressionist side, but he maintains the balance well.