Debussy

In this Carus release, Frieder Bernius leads soloists from Kammerchor Stuttgart in a selection of transcriptions by Clytus Gottwald and original compositions for chorus subdivided into multiple parts, in this case, up to 16 parts. The arrangements, here of songs originally for solo voice and piano, demonstrate Gottwald's mastery of this niche genre; he has also made remarkably effective choral transcriptions of chamber music and work for full orchestra. The arrangements, of songs by Ravel, Debussy, and Schumann, work beautifully as choral music, even as independent compositions, considered apart from their sources.

A much-recorded and lauded Italian pianist joins an exciting young multilingual soprano for an extensive collection of Debussy’s songs: a significant recorded contribution to the celebrations of the composer’s centenary.

This CD gives you a little slice of the restoration and development of quintessential French chamber music that gained momentum in the late 19th century and peaked around 1900 - the Golden Era of French art, music and culture. In opposition to the latest fads from Germany (Wagner's giantatism) and overzelous Parisian operas, the luminous pioneers of this vital movement in Paris were Frank, Faure, Saint Saens, Ravel, Massenet, Chausson and later the more modern "impressionist", Claude Debussy.

In a true meeting of musical minds, the two superb pianists team up once again for a delectable programme of miniatures by Fauré, Poulenc, Stravinsky, Debussy and Ravel. A bewitching programme of music often associated with childhood, including favourites by Fauré, Ravel and Debussy; works which amply reward the care lavished on them by Paul Lewis and Steven Osborne in these exquisite accounts.

It is interesting to see how three instruments often considered as secondary instruments can come together to become a formidable ensemble. Up until this time, flute and harp chamber repertoire was still mainly played and promoted by its own instrumentalists. Apart from Reinecke, no composer who wasn’t themselves a virtuoso had dedicated a major concerto to these instruments. The viola had nevertheless managed to take advantage of its place within the string quartet with Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Schumann, Bruch and even Brahms dedicating a few of their most beautiful scores to the instrument. This precious legacy, however, is not simply a coming together of the flute, viola and harp but rather the manner in which Debussy used the combination; resolutely modern, his treatment of these three instruments is more about orchestration than a simple distribution of parts.

DG are set to honour the supreme artistry of Daniel Barenboim throughout the coming year as he approaches his 80th birthday next November. The anniversary celebrations of the great pianist and conductor’s remarkable legacy began on 31 December 2021 with the release of Debussy’s Clair de lune, one of the highlights of Maestro Barenboim’s first DG album of 2022. Specially recorded in Barenboim’s Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, Encores features miniature masterpieces by Albéniz, Chopin, Debussy, Liszt, Schubert and Schumann.