Debussy Études

Started by Mirror Image, April 02, 2018, 06:25:35 AM

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Herman

And Samson François' incomplete recording (Book 2 minus one) is terrific, in the sense the music really is created as you're listening.

Traverso

Quote from: Mandryka on April 07, 2018, 11:45:52 PM
Absolutely not and she's quite explicit about this in an interview here

https://www.youtube.com/v/oYbgaPNjG3k

My notes made years ago on the interview say

- show quoted text -
Thanks. An outstanding interview.

Thank you for posting this video,I really enjoyed watching and listening to her.
It is great fun to listen to her when speaks  German.The music of Debussy "ist keine heimatlose musik,sie hat die illusion frei zu sein.It was quality time to see this musical interview. ;)

Mandryka

#42
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gk_bU7nlX2c

Albert Ferber. These are particularly beautiful IMO - And the interpretation seems to make the music entirely consistent with the preludes, rather than an outlier or a change of directions. I found it really disorienting at first actually, but gradually I'm starting to see why some people I know would say this is one of the more successful performances.

Ferber studied with Gieseking - I think you can hear some of that influence. Hammerless, fluid, colourful, fresh and spontaneous, somehow the sense of a single coherent thought being expressed in each piece - unified - an elegant line.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

#43


I won't say much about it other than that Tichman's in the top tier, along with Bonaventura, Vedernikov, Bavouzet I,  Beroff Denon and others who I'm too tired to remember. Really sensitive playing, without reducing the music to virtuosity (Bavouzet II) or feeling slightly pretentiously interventionist (Thibaudet) Just natural, expressive, nuanced, varied music making.

I am now convinced that these etudes are the summit of Debussy's piano music. More consistently amazing than Preludes II.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Mandryka on April 01, 2023, 09:10:02 AM

I won't say much about it other than that Tichman's in the top tier, along with Bonaventura, Vedernikov, Bavouzet I,  Beroff Denon and others who I'm too tired to remember. Really sensitive playing, without reducing the music to virtuosity (Bavouzet II) or feeling slightly pretentiously interventionist (Thibaudet) Just natural, expressive, nuanced, varied music making.

I am now convinced that these etudes are the summit of Debussy's piano music. More consistently amazing than Preludes II.
What do you mean about Bavouzet I vs. II?  I don't know/remember enough about his recording history of them.  I suspect that II are the relatively recent ones that he recorded in his Chandos series?

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Mandryka

#45
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on April 07, 2023, 01:21:28 PMWhat do you mean about Bavouzet I vs. II?  I don't know/remember enough about his recording history of them.  I suspect that II are the relatively recent ones that he recorded in his Chandos series?

PD

II is the Chandos as you say,  I is this, which I can let you have if you want.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Debussy-12-Etudes/dp/B0008FU8WW

Do check the Tichman too, in the etudes and preludes II. Very aristocratic playing IMO.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Mandryka on April 07, 2023, 07:09:20 PMII is the Chandos as you say,  I is this, which I can let you have if you want.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Debussy-12-Etudes/dp/B0008FU8WW

Do check the Tichman too, in the etudes and preludes II. Very aristocratic playing IMO.
Thank you for the info!  :)

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Mandryka

The two Bavouzet Etudes recordings, including a slight wobble, a change of mind.

I heard Bavouzet give a concert on Monday, including some Debussy - his transcription of Jeux.

He is a real entertainer, he communicates a sense of thoroughly enjoying what he's doing, enjoying showing off his technique too. His music making is totally charming and fun.

I think this spirit is caught better in the second recording, which I like more and more each time I hear it. I'm not quite sure what to make of the first any more.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

ritter

#48
Quote from: Mandryka on April 20, 2023, 09:46:57 AMThe two Bavouzet Etudes recordings, including a slight wobble, a change of mind.

I heard Bavouzet give a concert on Monday, including some Debussy - his transcription of Jeux.

He is a real entertainer, he communicates a sense of thoroughly enjoying what he's doing, enjoying showing off his technique too. His music making is totally charming and fun.

I think this spirit is caught better in the second recording, which I like more and more each time I hear it. I'm not quite sure what to make of the first any more.
Nice. Must have been a good concert.

I have two CDs of Bavouzet's traversal of Debussy's piano music on Chandos, but not his Études (and I didn't even know he has recorded those pieces twice). Somehow, I never go to Bavouzet when I feel like listening to Debussy, but must say his Jeux is fantastic (and to my ears far more successful than Jean-Pierre Armengaud's in the Warner complete set).

The Jeux Bavouzet recorded was Debussy's own piano reduction. Is the pianist now performing another transcription arranged by himself?

I was listening the other night to Jacques Février's 1962 recording of the Études, and found them superb. The recording seems never to have enjoyed wide circulation (its last reissue was in an Accord set that seems to have had a very limited pressing).

This was the original cover on Disques Véga, which matches the no-nonsense playing.  ;)


Mandryka

#49
@ritter I heard his own piano reduction for two pianos, I heard him do it with FF Guy. He said he wrote it to get revenge on Zoltan Kocsis. Kocsis wrote a two piano reduction of Ravel's La Valse and gave him one of the parts, which was almost impossible to play. So he wrote a two piano transcription of Jeux with an almost impossible part for Kocsis! It's on record - here

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcriptions-Pianists-Jean-Efflam-Bavouzet-Francois-Frederic/dp/B00WAD60AE/ref=sr_1_1?crid=34R8AAOX28ZWY&keywords=Guy+Bavouzet&qid=1682023673&rnid=1642204031&s=music&sprefix=guy+bavouzet+%2Caps%2C81&sr=1-1

He talked a lot about the complexity of the score of Jeux - he showed himself to be an intelligent and articulate musician.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka



Beroff is all about intense virtuosity in Book 1, and that draws an enormous amount of attention to him and his piano - because I can't help but think all the time "This guy's got chops and this piano is being given a work out." The articulation is often incisive, the timbre is often tough and the touch is "perlé" rather than cantabile in that French "digital pianism" way, think Marguerite Long. The contrast with Ferber, which I listened to yesterday, is quite a shock.

This may be more a recording for pianists and people interested in the art of piano playing than for people who want a rendition of the Debussy etudes which is sweet and easy to listen to,
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Steinway D

#51
Steven Osborne has a new recording of the Etudes and "Pour le piano" coming out next month (11/3) on Hyperion. I imagine it will be excellent based on everything I've heard from him.

Hobby

The Steven Osborne recording is out. As expected it is excellent - his usual clarity of playing, subtle nuances and character.

Steinway D

Quote from: Hobby on November 03, 2023, 01:50:54 PMThe Steven Osborne recording is out. As expected it is excellent - his usual clarity of playing, subtle nuances and character.
Absolutely, plus he's a little more aggressive in the more overtly powerful passages than some players, which I like. The sound is great, too. I bought the 24 bit 192kHz FLAC version from Hyperion.

Mandryka

Quote from: Steinway D on November 03, 2023, 02:28:52 PMAbsolutely, plus he's a little more aggressive in the more overtly powerful passages than some players, which I like. The sound is great, too. I bought the 24 bit 192kHz FLAC version from Hyperion.

Yes on the basis of one listen to Bk 1 I'd say that it sounds well worth exploring.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

The Osborne Debussy etudes are valuable partly because there's a sense of discovery and joy in music making - no feeling of rote. 
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: Mandryka on March 19, 2023, 09:50:01 AMhttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gk_bU7nlX2c

Albert Ferber. These are particularly beautiful IMO - And the interpretation seems to make the music entirely consistent with the preludes, rather than an outlier or a change of directions. I found it really disorienting at first actually, but gradually I'm starting to see why some people I know would say this is one of the more successful performances.

Ferber studied with Gieseking - I think you can hear some of that influence. Hammerless, fluid, colourful, fresh and spontaneous, somehow the sense of a single coherent thought being expressed in each piece - unified - an elegant line.


I like it!