Favourite Debussy piano music records

[Ferretfancy]

Dino Ciani - Preludes, Book 1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Genius-D.../dp/B003LMHW3M

Caliban

Do you have the Brilliant Classics 3 disc Ciani set ? It includes both books of Debussy Preludes, Schumann's Novelettes, Weber's 2nd and 3rd sonatas and Vol.2 of Bartok's Out of Doors.
The Genius of Dino Ciani - Brilliant Classics 940969

[Nick Armstrong]

Caliban

Do you have the Brilliant Classics 3 disc Ciani set ? It includes both books of Debussy Preludes, Schumann's Novelettes, Weber's 2nd and 3rd sonatas and Vol.2 of Bartok's Out of Doors.
The Genius of Dino Ciani - Brilliant Classics 940969

Yes! - that's the link in my post...

[mathias broucek]

Michelangeli, DG, Preludes Book 1 & 2... always his own man, individually, unsurpassably, himself....

Quite! Also some interesting live Michelangeli in this repertoire in reasonable sound.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

This is such superb Music, it works with so many treatments - there are some performances mentioned here that I don't know (I can't believe that I don't know the Michelangeli recordings), but I'd add Pollini's Etudes to the mix, and Gordon Fergus-Thompson's set of the complete works. Completely different from Gieseking, between them they encompass the whole gamut of Debussy's piano Music.

[MickyD]

Alexei Lubimov gives an enjoyable and interesting HIP account of the Préludes, Nocturnes etc on a 1925 Bechstein and a 1913 Steinway on ECM.

[HighlandDougie]

This is such superb Music, it works with so many treatments

If I were allowed only composer's music to save from the proverbial burning house, I think that it would probably be that of Debussy and, as his piano music is at the very heart of his oeuvre, it means a great deal to me. Converted to recordings, that means I seem to have accumulated quite a lot of them - sets of more or less the lot from Gieseking, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Philippe Cassard, François Chaplin and Alain Planès; the Préludes (either or both books) from Dino Ciani, Pollini, Michelangeli (studio and the live first book coupled with that astonishing Grieg Piano Concerto), Krystian Zimerman, Paul Jacobs, Paul Crossley, Livia Rev, Peter Frankl, Philippe Bianconi; the Images from Simon Trpceski, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Zoltan Kocsis; the Études from Mitsuko Uchida and Aimard. There's some Samson François somewhere - and some great Richter.

The recent Nelson Goerner recital is a good addition to the above - and as I'm typing this I'm listening to a new recital from Javier Perianes which mixes seven pieces by Chopin with seven by Debussy: both composers played with great beauty by this exceptionally fine Spanish pianist. I listen to pretty much all of them, although I have fallen out of love with Zimerman's Préludes which I now find too percussive and hard-driven to be enjoyable and I don't think that Paul Crossley is quite in the league of some of the others. As I don't know the much-praised Lubimov, I've just ordered it. But, as FHG says, "it works with so many treatments", so for me, no one of them can ever be "the best".

[silvestrione]

That old DG Richter recording of some Preludes and Estampes.....wonderful. Also there's Richter in Debussy on a double CD from BBC Legends.

Also Michelangeli in the Images and Children's Corner suite, and the Preludes.

A pianist I often don't like, Alexis Weissenberg, also has a wonderful DG disc. I often listen to his Estampes.

[amateur51]

If I were allowed only composer's music to save from the proverbial burning house, I think that it would probably be that of Debussy and, as his piano music is at the very heart of his oeuvre, it means a great deal to me. Converted to recordings, that means I seem to have accumulated quite a lot of them - sets of more or less the lot from Gieseking, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Philippe Cassard, François Chaplin and Alain Planès; the Préludes (either or both books) from Dino Ciani, Pollini, Michelangeli (studio and the live first book coupled with that astonishing Grieg Piano Concerto), Krystian Zimerman, Paul Jacobs, Paul Crossley, Livia Rev, Peter Frankl, Philippe Bianconi; the Images from Simon Trpceski, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Zoltan Kocsis; the Études from Mitsuko Uchida and Aimard. There's some Samson François somewhere - and some great Richter.

The recent Nelson Goerner recital is a good addition to the above - and as I'm typing this I'm listening to a new recital from Javier Perianes which mixes seven pieces by Chopin with seven by Debussy: both composers played with great beauty by this exceptionally fine Spanish pianist. I listen to pretty much all of them, although I have fallen out of love with Zimerman's Préludes which I now find too percussive and hard-driven to be enjoyable and I don't think that Paul Crossley is quite in the league of some of the others. As I don't know the much-praised Lubimov, I've just ordered it. But, as FHG says, "it works with so many treatments", so for me, no one of them can ever be "the best".

I agree with fhg and Highland Dougie - we are fortunate indeed to be listening at a time when so many interesting performances and interpretations are easily available, as listed.

I am particularly pleased to read your praise for the late Paul Jacobs, Highland Dougie

[Barbirollians]

A pianist I often don't like, Alexis Weissenberg, also has a wonderful DG disc. I often listen to his Estampes.

I think we discussed this before . That record got the most appalling reviews as I remember and I had just bought it as an impecunious student ! All too easily influenced I sold it to a second hand shop not long afterwards and bought Ancerl's Brahms 1 from there instead !

As I recall it I couldn't see what was so wrong with it but thought that Gramophone must know better .

[BBMmk2]

I forgot, when JLW, mentioned Michaelangeli's legendary recording for DG of Debussy Images, etc. such a special recording.

[silvestrione]

I think we discussed this before . That record got the most appalling reviews as I remember and I had just bought it as an impecunious student ! All too easily influenced I sold it to a second hand shop not long afterwards and bought Ancerl's Brahms 1 from there instead !

As I recall it I couldn't see what was so wrong with it but thought that Gramophone must know better .

No doubt it was called harsh and insensitive etc. It's pacy and muscular at times certainly, but just listen to, e.g. the clarity of the combined rhythms in Pagodes, the way the second theme is delicately touched in, the shape of the whole, and the marvellous controlled diminuendo at the end. Jardins sous la Pluie is beautifully shaped and comes to an exciting climax. In the Prelude from the Suite Bergamasque the opening gesture is imposing, the semiquaver passages respond in lovely contrasting phrases, and the middle theme is introduced magically. I could go on.

[Bryn]

A set that does not seem to have been mentioned in this particular discussion of the works in question is that from Alain Planes on Harmonia Mundi:



Some of the recordings in the set were made using instruments of the time of composition. I like it a lot.

[johnb]

I have (amongst others) the 4CD Rev set linked to in an earlier post. The performances are very fine but the sound quality shows its age much more than many other recordings of the same vintage.

[HighlandDougie]

As I don't know the much-praised Lubimov, I've just ordered it.

Having now had the chance to give the Lubimov a proper listen, I thoroughly recommend it. He plays the First Book of the Préludes on a 1925 Bechstein and the Second Book on a 1913 Steinway. To quote the pianist from the booklet, "(the Bechstein) clear, sharply etched, translucent and light, even in complex textures"; "(the Steinway) divinely soft in pianissimo, resonant and marvellously suitable for unexpected colours". For anyone interested in the choice of these German pianos rather than, say, an Érard, there's an interesting essay in the booklet about Debussy and "piano sound". I would hasten to add that none of the stuff about pianos would matter if Lubimov's interpretative and pianistic faculties weren't up there with the best. And, as one might expect from ECM, seriously good recording quality. My copy was cheap (used but one would never know) so, if there are any Debussy-lovers who haven't yet heard this issue, it would make a good addition to the Christmas present list at no great cost.

[MickyD]

I'm pleased to think someone else is similarly enthusiastic over the Lubimov, Dougie!