Debussy

The duo of cellist Mischa Maisky and pianist Martha Argerich is known for the virtuoso flair they bring to their performances. This album was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance. The ensemble succeeds at matching each other in every way, lending a unified and organic feeling that make it hard to believe at times that this is a *live* recording. The acoustic quality is also outstanding, although you may wish it were not so good when Maisky's loud breathing and foot-tapping get out of hand (particularly in the Debussy).

David Grimal and Georges Pludermacher’s sonata recital for Ambroisie begins auspiciously with a reading of Debussy’s Sonata that casts shadows without obscuring detail. Grimal’s hazy timbres, on the 1710 ex-Roederer Stradivari, pervade the first movement, but he achieves laser-like clarity in the upper registers, especially near the end. In the second movement, violinist and pianist alternate playfulness with throaty protestations of poignant yearning. Beside this performance, David Oistrakh’s sounds downright monochromatic. The duo slithers almost menacingly through the finale’s sultry passages. Throughout, Pludermacher reveals himself as a strong-minded exponent of Debussy in his own right…

"Beau Soir" - named after Debussy's evocation of evening - takes us from dusk to the moonlit night, from lullabies into sleep, from dreams to awakening and recollection. Popular classics such as Faure's Berceuse and Apr s un r ve and Debussy's Claire de lune are contrasted with three substantial works; sonatas by Debussy and Ravel, and Messiaen's Theme and Variations. The album also includes three new works by the widely admired contemporary Swiss composer Richard Dubugnon, whose violin concerto Janine Jansen premiered in Paris in 2008.

This is a prestige issue if ever there was one, not so much for its music (though in fact this very apt coupling is not otherwise available) as for its presentation and aural glamour. Naturally DGG is proud to have its new contract with the Boston Orchestra, and the German engineers have done marvels in a new environment at capturing the characteristic Boston sound.

2012 marks the 150th anniversary of Claude Debussy's birth. On this occasion, Universal Classics is proud to re-release, on the Decca label, the complete piano works recorded by Philippe Cassard between 1989 and 1993. The four volumes of which this cycle consists are now being brought together for the first time as an attractive box set at an equally attractive price, with the addition of two pieces unpublished at the time of the initial recording and recorded in June 2011: 'Les soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon' and 'Pour le Vêtement du blessé'.

Claude Debussy - La Mer / Prelude A L'Apres-Midi D'Un Faune / Nuages / Fetes / Printemps
The Boston Symphony Orchestra / Charles Munch
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 291 MB | Full Artwork: 62 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: RCA Victor Gold Seal # GD86719 | Country/Year: Europe 1998, 1991
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

Charles Munch's Debussy performances always have been treasured for their color, vitality, and seeming oneness with the composer's conception. It's hard to imagine finer performances of Images or the two Nocturnes. Munch's rhythmic sense and timbral distinctiveness vividly render Debussy's multi-layered textures and subtly varied moods. Then there's the Boston Symphony, captured at the height of its glory, offering vibrant, virtuoso playing from all sections. (…) As it stands it's a great–and essential, if supplemental, collection.

Here is a disc of purest piano-perfection. Having listened to it right through at one sitting, I can state that it has been one of the most perceptive, satisfying, seductive - indeed hypnotic - and rivetingly delightful discs of piano-playing I've encountered in a long time. Every one of these 18 miniature masterpieces emerges fresh, like finest jewels expertly sculpted. Not even the most familiar of them (like Arabesque 1, Cathedrale Engloutie, Fille aux Cheveux de Lin, Clair de Lune) fail to captivate and enchant the ear…….

S. Mitchell @ Aamazon.com