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The Ideal Debussy Preludes Book 1 (One Pianist for Each Prelude) · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

0:07
This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
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Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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A listener recently wrote me and asked if I possibly
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could recommend recordings for each of the Debussy
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preludes in books one and two. to do so by recommending
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one pianist only for each prelude and not to
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repeat a pianist over the course of the 24 preludes.
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And by my undertaking this endeavor, I know I'm
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going to get a lot of... backlash, of course.
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Hey Jed, how come you chose Walter Gieseking
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for this prelude when everyone knows that Liberace
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made the best recording of that particular prelude?
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And so on and so forth. So let's get it straight.
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right at the start, that I am not picking necessarily
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the best recordings for each of these preludes,
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but rather that I'm naming special favorites.
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And also bear in mind that within this list of
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24 pianists, there should not be any weak links,
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at least I don't think so. These are all simply
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excellent recorded versions for each of the 24
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Debussy Preludes, and I've done a rather heroic
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job of assembling links to access each and every
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one of these recordings. But for this episode,
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I'm only going to deal with the Preludes in Book
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1, the 12 pieces in Book 1, and we will continue
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with Book 2 fairly soon. I figure that this way
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you will have time to absorb my recommendations
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and check them out if you so desire. And anyway,
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12 pieces, that's quite a lot anyway. For Prelude
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No. 1, Danseuse des Delfs, The Dances of the
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Delfs, I've posted a link to a recording by the
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pianist Catherine Kotsky. She is a prominent
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D .B .C. scholar, but more importantly, she is
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a scholar who puts her money where her mouth
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is. And she has an excellent recording of all
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24 preludes available on the Centaur label. And
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the way she plays the first prelude, I really
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love the performance because it has a relaxed
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animation and it has subtle gradations of touch
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and dynamics. And it's really quite lovely. Prelude
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number two, Voiles. Am I pronouncing that right?
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V -O -I -L -E -S. Well, in English, it means
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sails, like on a sailboat. For this prelude,
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I've actually chosen a period instrument performance.
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And this is one by the pianist Philippe Cassade.
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And it was first released on the French Alvidis
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label in the early 1990s. And then Decca picked
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it up and reissued this whole Debussy cycle.
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And he uses a very well -preserved Bechstein
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piano from 1898. And it has a warm sonority and
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very clear registral differentiation. And the
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high notes have a slightly metallic yet rather
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gentle tonal residue. And I think that this kind
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of tonal patina really adds a lot to the performances
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because... The piece is relatively static harmonically
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in its use of the whole tone scale. So having
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an instrument with this kind of timbral distinction
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between registers, I think really helps the music.
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And of course, the performance itself is really,
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really well done. Prelude number three, Le Vent
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dans les Plaines. Did I pronounce that right?
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P -L -A -I -N. I better take some French lessons.
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I studied French in high school, and I really
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enjoyed it, except the final year I took the
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language, I had a horrible teacher, and it kind
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of got me off of studying French any further.
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Anyway, the title of this prelude is The Wind
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in the Plain. And for this piece, I... always
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find myself going back to the old Alfred Courtauld
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recordings of this prelude, because he really
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keeps Debussy's tempo directive of anime very
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much alive throughout the piece. Yet he does
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so without ever sounding rushed, and the shifts
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of color with each unexpected shift in harmony
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still thrill me as a listener. And those downward
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double note figurations, Courtauld plays these
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in tempo without any technical compromise in
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his two earliest recordings of this prelude.
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One of them being a standalone 1928 recording,
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which is probably the most incisive of the three
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that we have. And his remake that's part of the...
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1931 complete cycle of the 12 preludes book one.
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Maybe it's just a tad less technically solid,
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though it's really, really excellent still. And
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it's much better recorded. There's more of a
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dynamic range and you really get more of Courtauld's
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color. When Courtauld remade Book One in 1949,
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he was somewhat past his prime, and he still
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played this prelude quite well, but the tempo
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in this recording, the 1949 version, is a little
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bit slower, and those chromatic figurations,
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you know, those descending two -note chords I
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talked about, are not quite so smoothly executed
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as they were two decades earlier. Prelude number
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four is called Les sons et les parfums tonnant
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dans l 'air du soir. God, that's a mouthful of
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my bad French. The sounds and fragrances swirl
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through the evening air. This is not a prelude
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that gets talked about so often, but I think
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it's a remarkable piece, actually. And its basic
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rhythm implies a sour band without ever really
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being a sour band. And it has a kind of built
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-in rubato that makes it really unnecessary to
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use lots of imposed rubato. So in other words,
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if you play this music straight, it basically
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interprets itself. I love the deliberation and
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the concentration and the sensitivity. in a performance
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by Catherine Collard, who recorded both books
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of preludes for RCA Victor in 1993. And this
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whole cycle is really lovely and quite cultivated,
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and it should be restored to the catalog. It
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first came out on RCA, and then it was reissued
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by Newton Classics on CD. Remember this label?
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They licensed a lot of stuff from Phillips and
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RCA and Decca. I think you can get the Catherine
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Collard cycle still as a download in different
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places. You should definitely check that out
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online. But I did put in the link in the episode
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comments. Prelude number five, Les Collines d
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'Anacapri, The Hills of Anacapri. You know, when
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I first was studying to play this piece when
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I was a student, I somehow thought the word colline
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meant young girls or young maidens, like the
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maidens of Anacapri. I don't know what I was
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thinking. Maybe it was the fast dancing music
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and the quick changes of mood throughout the
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piece. One of my very favorite performances is
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that of the Hungarian pianist Livia Rev. And
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her performance has great contrasts and mood
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and texture and really hard -hitting accents
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that are still not too aggressive, fortunately.
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And she really gets this music's character. However,
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the $64 ,000 question, which of Livia Rev's...
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two recordings of this prelude do I prefer. There's
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one from 1990 on Hyperion, which is very easily
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accessible. You can get that by streaming or
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downloading. Her earlier 1980 recording on the
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Sangha Classics label, however, is much harder
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to source. That's the one I slightly prefer,
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but the Hyperion one is perfectly fine, and I've
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posted a link to that. But if you do happen to
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find the saga recording, grab it. Okay, prelude
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number six, Des Pas sur la Neige, Footprints
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in the Snow. Gosh, this is such a miraculous
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piece. I just love the way that Debussy uses
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so few notes to create such a fragile and such
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a delicate and such a desolate atmosphere. And
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because of this, every note and every phrase
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is totally exposed. You know, if you're a pianist,
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one false move or one accent that's out of place
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or one phrase that's not well considered and
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basically it'll sound like sight reading. You
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really have to work hard to interpret this piece
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well. But there is a pianist who projects every
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sound with... unswerving purpose and specificity
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and tonal beauty beyond belief, and with a sense
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of controlled rapture. That's the pianist Ivan
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Morovets. Now, he did not record all of the book
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one preludes, but what he does with number six
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is quite, quite special. Now, we go the... opposite
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route, pianistically speaking, with number seven,
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What the West Wind Has Seen. You notice that
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I'm not trying to say the French title? Smart.
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This is a piece all about outright virtuosity.
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Well, not completely, but outright virtuosity
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is a big component of it. In some ways, it's
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kind of Listian. Anyway, Debussy is very careful
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with how he deploys the dynamics. And the trick
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for pianists is to not get too loud too soon
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and not to anticipate or telegraph the climaxes
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or the sudden crescendos. And for these reasons,
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I like... a performance by Pascal Roger that
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comes from his early 1970s cycle of the Preludes
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Book One that he recorded for Decca. And he really
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adheres to Debussy's dynamic and expressive markings,
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but he still conveys a real sense of nervous
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energy and he has a whiplash kind of virtuosity
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that... really does underline the music's occasional
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bows to the Franz Liszt tradition. Number eight,
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The Girl with the Flaxen Hair. Now, this is one
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of Debussy's greatest hits, and you just want
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to play this piece simply. It doesn't need probing.
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It doesn't need a fake kind of depth that's not
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there. You don't have to play it with anguish.
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And I've heard some performances of this piece
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that are positively dirge -like, as if that girl
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with the flaxen hair is on her deathbed. However,
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by contrast, and very happily so, Jean -Yves
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Thibaudet plays this piece with a songful fluidity
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and just enough nuance, no more than necessary.
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His performance has... Just the right ebb and
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flow to it. And it's beautifully recorded as
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well. Number nine. Number nine. Number nine.
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Number nine. Prelude number nine. La Sarnade
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Interrompue. God, did I say that? I didn't say
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it quite so well in French. The Interrupted Serenade.
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And the title of this piece, I think, truly depicts
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what the music is about. And I think it always
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helps when a pianist understands the flamenco
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-like character of the repeated notes and the
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harmony. And this is a piece that needs much
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more lilt than drive. And I think that Nelson
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Freire does this perfectly in his recording,
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which is also on Decca. The repeated notes are
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supple and light and they have a sense of air
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in between the notes that you don't normally
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get in this piece. His tempo feels just right
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and those chordal outbursts don't hit you over
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the head as they often tend to do in other performances.
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I think this performance has great character
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and a wonderful sense of proportion. Number 10.
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The Sunken Cathedral. This is another one of
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Debussy's greatest hits, and so much critical
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and analytical ink has been spilled over this
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piece, especially in regard to how Debussy, in
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his 1913 piano roll recording, plays certain
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measures twice as fast as they... actually are
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notated. Stephen Osborne, in his recording for
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Hyperion, for example, follows Debussy's lead,
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chapter and verse. Now, Claudio Arau, in his
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Phillips recording, adheres to the printed score,
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not to what Debussy does in the piano role. But
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whether Arau does what Debussy intends, the fact
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is that Arau creates an atmosphere of profound
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calm, and as such, he gets very close to the
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spirit of what Debussy intends, I think, in Arau's
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performance. And the sound world that Arau gets
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from his piano conveys beauty and definition
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and fullness of body, no matter how soft he's
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playing. or no matter how disembodied or ghostly
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the sonorities that he's conjuring up from the
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piano. This is an interpretation that I think
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has real depth, and I really love it, so that's
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why I'm recommending it. Number 11, The Dance
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of Puck. There are performances of this piece
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that go way too fast to the point where you have
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to take amphetamines in order to dance to it.
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And there also are performances where the main
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theme just refuses to swing or take wing. And
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there are performances where the tempos just
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go all over the place. But one performance where
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I feel that everything goes just right is a performance
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by my dear friend. Stephen Spooner. Back in 2017,
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Stephen brought out this 15 -disc box set that
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also included a DVD where each disc was dedicated
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to a certain pianist he admired and the repertoire
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that he chose was reflected. and the dedications.
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So, eight of these CDs were dedicated to Sviatoslav
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Richter, and one of the Richter dedication discs
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included the 24 Debussy Preludes. And here, Stephen
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Spooner's performance of La Danse de Puck has...
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everything going for it. Just the right internal
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sense of swing to the main theme. He has beautifully
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timed transitions and all kinds of tonal shadings.
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It's just marvelous. And finally... Prelude number
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12, Minstrels. This is like a cakewalk or a quasi
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ragtime piece, but maybe it's more of an eccentric
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dance. And again, you need a sense of swing and
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a sense of comic timing. And a lot of pianists
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get certain aspects of this piece right, yet
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they miss the mark in other places. But there's
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one performance that I think ticks all the right
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boxes, so to speak, and hits all of the marks.
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And without resorting to exaggeration and with
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real expressive economy and a steady basic tempo
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that's only adjusted with the utmost subtlety.
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And this is a performance by a pianist. Henriette
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Faure. Now, you spell her last name like the
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composer Faure, F -A -U -R -E. But since there
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is no accent on the final E, as there is in Faure,
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you pronounce her last name Faure. And this recording,
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I think it dates from 1961. At least it was released
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in 1961. It came out on the French Ducreté Thompson
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label. And I recently saw a secondhand vinyl
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copy of this selling for something like $1 ,800,
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as if anybody's really going to pay that amount
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of money for any LP. But you can find this recording
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in download format. And also, you can hear the
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entire book one of Preludes with Henriette Four
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on YouTube. So there we have it. All 12 Debussy
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Preludes Book 1 with a different pianist recommended
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in each prelude and without repeating a pianist.
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And I will repeat none of these 12 pianists when
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we get to recommending performances of Preludes
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Book 2. when we get to book two on The Piano
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Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode.
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My name is Jed Disler, and I look forward to
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you and I being together next time. Take good
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care, and please be kind to one another.