Debussy: Pr�ludes - Books 1 & 2

��Osborne has prepared well, and every prelude glows, always rich in atmosphere. Osborne's delicacy of feeling (and texture) is at its most magical in the soft footfalls "sur la neige" although "Feuilles mortes" has similar moments of evocative quietness. The unpredictability of "Le vent dans la plaine" is matched by the stimulated violence of "Ce qu'a vu le vent d'Ouest", and the thrilling climax of "La cath�drale engloutie" has rich depth and sonority.� --Gramophone Magazine, October 2006

Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice - October 2006
Penguin Guide Rosette Winner

�Steven Osborne's pedigree in French repertoire is such that it has been almost inevitable that he would record Debussy's Pr�ludes at some point. He has much in his favour, notably a marvellous range of colour, finely judged touch, and the ability to combine powerful waves of sound with diaphanous passagework while Hyperion have not lost their ability to capture a piano in full, natural sound.� -- BBC Music Magazine, August 2006 ***

�Steven Osborne tells us that in preparing this recording he was struck 'by the enormous scope of these preludes. What other collection of pieces manages to create so many utterly distinct and compelling worlds?' But he has prepared well, and every prelude glows, always rich in atmosphere.
The opening 'Danseuses de Delphes' has a commandingly grave serenity and 'Voiles' floats effortlessly. Yet 'Les collines d'Anacapri' dances with sparkling rhythmic vitality and 'La danse de Puck' is deliciously capricious.

Osborne's delicacy of feeling (and texture) is at its most magical in the soft footfalls 'sur la neige', although 'Feuilles mortes' has similar moments of evocative quietness. The unpredictability of 'Le vent dans la plaine' is matched by the simulated violence of 'Ce qu'a vu le vent d'Ouest', and the thrilling climax of 'La cath�drale engloutie' has rich depth and sonority. By contrast, 'La fille aux cheveux de lin' has a ravishing simplicity, without sentimentalising.

'S Pickwick' brings a momentary smile but his eccentricity is banished by the calm of 'Canope' and the joyful virtuosity of 'Les ti�rces altern�es'.

Osborne's virtuosity is never for its own sake and always reflects the music's spirit. The obvious comparison is with Zimerman's stunningly vivid recording; but his extraordinarily brilliant playing is at times almost over-projected and Osborne's natural spontaneity and powerful conveying of inner feeling is every bit as telling � less intense but deeply satisfying. The Hyperion recording is very realistic.� --The Gramophone Classical Music Guide 2010

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Debussy: Clair de lune

�[In 'Les elfes'] Dessay brilliantly handles the dialogue among the song's characters and delivers some of the best vocal shading of the disc when the elf princess admits that she is, in fact, dead. It's an extremely effective performance but would have been more so five years ago, when the voice had less mileage.� --Gramophone Magazine, March 2012

�that silvery soprano voice [...] caresses these delicately perfumed offerings (some of them unpublished) with nonchalant French elegance, a winning soubrette sparkle, and loving regard for the meaning and poetry of every word.� --The Times, 16th March 2012 ****

Natalie Dessay (soprano) & Philippe Cassard (piano)

Two leading French performers � soprano Natalie Dessay and pianist Philippe Cassard � come together in vocal works from the early career of Claude Debussy, whose 150th anniversary falls in 2012. Their recital includes four unpublished songs reflecting the young composer�s love for the soprano wife of one of his patrons. In Cassard�s words, Dessay informs these works with �her charisma as an actress, her energy, her temperament and her virtuosity, with its joyous sense of fun�.

Claude Debussy, whose 150th anniversary falls in 2012, signed his scores �musicien fran�ais� in the final years of his life. Two leading French musicians of today collaborate on this disc of the composer�s songs � including a number of rarities � and his cantata, La damoiselle �lue, based on the poetry of Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Philippe Cassard � whose impeccable Debussy credentials include performances of the composer�s complete piano works � wrote to Natalie Dessay after he had been deeply impressed by her interpretation of M�lisande, which can be seen on a Virgin Classics DVD of Pell�as et M�lisande (catalogue No 6961379). He suggested she would be perfect for a series of songs Debussy had composed around the age of 20.

As Cassard recounts: �At the time, Debussy was very much in love with Marie Vasnier, an older woman married to a man who helped Debussy at the beginning of his career. She was a light soprano and he composed some 40 songs for her, to poems by Bourget, Banville, Bouchor and Verlaine. They all reflect his feelings for Madame Vasnier.

�In 2010 I was shown a collection of Debussy manuscripts. Among them were four songs I had never heard of � and which the Debussy expert Denis Herlin confirmed were not officially documented. One of them, �Les Elfes�, to a poem by Leconte de Lisle, is, at 174 bars, the longest song Debussy ever wrote, and contains high vocalises, chord sequences taken from Wagner�s �Ride of the Valkyries� and melodic motifs showing the influence of Massenet and Delibes. Another, �Le matelot qui tombe � l'eau�, to a poem by Bouchor, is the shortest of all his songs, a dreamy little bubble of wit.�

Writing to Natalie Dessay after he had seen her M�lisande in Vienna, Cassard explained that �she would be the only person able to inhabit and embody these early Debussy songs � that her charisma as an actress, her energy, her temperament and her virtuosity, with its joyous sense of fun, would enable her to offer an interpretation that was different and really personal � something far away from a performing tradition that portrays preciosity, restrained intimacy and pseudo-Impressionism, which to me seems out of place in these works: they might be poetic, but they are also full of passion.�

Dessay had in fact sung many of Debussy�s songs in the past, and she was delighted to return to them as she and Cassard made a selection from repertoire which, as the pianist says, �shows Debussy trying out all sorts of genres, testing his ammunition and his discoveries.�

Describing the partnership with Dessay, Cassard says: �I�ve worked with many singers and this collaboration with Natalie Dessay gave me the privilege and joy of meeting an inspired, but humble artist with a perpetually questing spirit, always ready to question the text and the score. Her straightforwardness and integrity are rare in a professional world so obsessed with appearances. I am eternally grateful to her.�

Revisions

Steven Isserlis has earned a reputation as one of the foremost cellists of our day. At the same time he has become known for his ingenuity and innovation in programming, something which this disc is the perfect example of. It combines four works for cello and orchestra that wouldn't even exist without Isserlis - all arrangements made at his personal request, and each of them by the arranger of his personal choice. The most radical reworking is the opening piece, an arrangement based on the fact that Debussy at the age of 19 composed a Suite for cello and orchestra. 

All that is known for certain about this suite is that its fourth movement was called Intermezzo, and that this piece has survived in a version for cello and piano. In her imaginative reconstruction of - or rather replacement for - Debussy's original composition, Sally Beamish has used this piece as the opening movement, going on to construct orchestral arrangements of four other Debussy works from the same period, including the piano pieces R�verie and Danse boh�mienne. The two Ravel songs which follow were arranged by Isserlis' friend, the violinist Richard Tognetti in order to supplement the concert programme for a tour that the two were to make with Tognetti's own Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Vladimir Blok's orchestration of Prokofiev's Concertino, which had been left incomplete at the death of the composer, was made as Isserlis was unhappy with the existing arrangement of the work, made by Kabalevsky. The disc closes with the earliest of these four re-visions, film composer Christopher Palmer's orchestration of Ernest Bloch's From Jewish Life, allowing the disc to end with the movement entitled Prayer - 'one of the most fervently beautiful pieces ever written for the cello', according to Steven Isserlis himself. Throughout the programme Isserlis receives the expert support of Tapiola Sinfonietta conducted by G�bor Tak�cs-Nagy.

Live in Japan: Chopin, Franck, Debussy

What a recital this must have been! Individually, both Maisky and Argerich are among the best living players of their instruments: Maisky is a big-toned, full-blooded cellist and Argerich is a recklessly impulsive pianist blessed with a flawless technique. Together, Maisky and Argerich challenge each other to even higher heights, with Maisky singing like an operatic baritone and Argerich taking ever dangerous risks. 

And in this concert, Maisky and Argerich are at the top of their form, delivering performances that are, with one exception, among the most compelling ever recorded. Their Chopin sonata is far more passionate than any ever recorded: Maisky's playing makes the venerable Rostropovich performance seem restrained and Argerich's playing makes the piano part sound like the dazzling music it is, rather than a demure accompaniment to the cellist.

Their Franck sonata has more ardent sensuality than the Act I Love duet from La boh�me, with Maisky making a most convincing case for the work as a cello sonata. Their encore, Chopin's youthful Polonaise brilliante, succeeds in making the piece sound like more than a virtuoso trifle. Only Maisky's overly Romantic interpretation of Debussy's cello sonata is less convincing and, even there, the brilliance of Argerich's performance cannot be denied. This is as exciting a cello/piano recital as has ever been recorded. --allmusic.com