Debussy Preludes and other bits

[ardcarp]

I really enjoyed the Debussy piano music item on today's programme, especially the parallel Hyperions by Hough and Osborne. I don't often leap to order a CD after Record Review, but I think I might plump for Stephen Hough as a forthcoming birthday prezzie.

[Serial_Apologist]

I really enjoyed the Debussy piano music item on today's programme, especially the parallel Hyperions by Hough and Osborne. I don't often leap to order a CD after Record Review, but I think I might plump for Stephen Hough as a forthcoming birthday prezzie.

Gives new meaning to that famous phrase: "Don't bother him today, he's got the Hough"!

[richardfinegold]

Haven’t heard Hough. I learned these pieces from Peter Frankl on noisy Vox lps then came to regard Michangelli as a God send on CD. The Frankl actually sounds highly competitive in a digital incarnation. I didn’t care for the ballyhooed Gieseking or Zimmerman either but amongst modern Pianists Amy Gustafson and Craig Sheppard impress. It’s hard to get that “Piano Without hammers “ sound

[ardcarp]

It's hard to get that “Piano Without hammers “ sound

Hough might be your man. [Person?]

[Beresford]

I too enjoy hearing how different pianists interpret Debussy - so much variety - and the composer himself "detested" what most of the piano virtuosi of the day did to his music. I found Osborne too much like Beethoven, and Hough too much like Grieg (?). The Korean Seong-Jin Cho was very good - for my taste - perhaps a little too careful at the end of Pagodas. There was a pianist called Nilsson playing Pagodas and more on TTN last Friday morning - quite gentle, without being nonchalant, letting the music speak for itself. But my favourite by a long way, for dynamics if not for the piano sound, is Daniel Ericourt, recorded in the 1960's.

[BBMmk2]

I knew about the Osborne cycle but didn’t know about Hough’s. He came to my school, where I work, to give a masterclass and recital! Very enjoyable too. I might st have to buy them both !

[Barbirollians]

I was most taken with the Cho extracts - Osborne is too hard edged for me in this repertoire for all his extraordinary skill . Then again nobody has ever shifted me from my devotion to Livia Rev's Saga recordings of Debussy piano music .

[gradus]

Both Hyperion recordings were terrific. I didn't associate Hough with Debussy but will from now on. Steven Osborne is as they say, something else and one of the pianists I'd always try to hear.

[Bryn]

I was most taken with the Cho extracts - Osborne is too hard edged for me in this repertoire for all his extraordinary skill . Then again nobody has ever shifted me from my devotion to Livi Rev's Saga recordings of Debussy piano music .

Such a pity that the 4 CD set issue of the Saga set was incomplete*. Good to have what was included though.

*Missing from the CDs, though present in the 6 LP box, are:

Masques
L'Isle Joyeuse
Rèverie
the 3 Éstampes
Valse Romantique
Petit Négre

She appears not to have recorded the third of the Images Oubliées, Quelques aspects de Nous n'irons plus au bois parce qu’il fait un temps insupportable.

[Barbirollians]

Such a pity that the 4 CD set issue of the Saga set was incomplete*. Good to have what was included though.

*Missing from the CDs, though present in the 6 LP box, are:

Masques
L'Isle Joyeuse
Rèverie
the 3 Éstampes
Valse Romantique
Petit Négre

She appears not to have recorded the third of the Images Oubliées, Quelques aspects de Nous n'irons plus au bois parce qu’il fait un temps insupportable.

She is still with us at 101years of age .

[Bryn]

She is still with us at 101years of age .

I somehow doubt she will be recording the missing Image she forgot.

[Beresford]

I was most taken with the Cho extracts - Osborne is too hard edged for me in this repertoire for all his extraordinary skill . Then again nobody has ever shifted me from my devotion to Livi Rev's Saga recordings of Debussy piano music .

Thanks for this. I had never heard Livia Rev play Debussy until I listened to her on YouTube yesterday. A joy - so much empathy with the flow of the music, even in the Etudes. I suspect she would be similarly impressive in Chopin Nocturnes.

[BBMmk2]

Have I missed something here but I haven’t seen mentioned so far, Mitsuko Uchida. Her performances are rather sublime. They have just the right ebb and flow for this music.

[Barbirollians]

Thanks for this. I had never heard Livia Rev play Debussy until I listened to her on YouTube yesterday. A joy - so much empathy with the flow of the music, even in the Etudes. I suspect she would be similarly impressive in Chopin Nocturnes.

Her Chopin and Mendelssohn recordings on Hyperion are well worth buying.

[richardfinegold]

Have I missed something here but I haven’t seen mentioned so far, Mitsuko Uchida. Her performances are rather sublime. They have just the right ebb and flow for this music.

I don’t know that she recorded the Preludes, BBm, although she did a fine disc of the etudes