BaL 6.03.21 - Debussy: Études pour piano

[verismissimo]

Actually I enjoy Frankl's Vox/Turnabout set, but I think he just doesn't have the clarity of articulation and prestidigitation necessary for the Etudes.

[Serial_Apologist]

Actually I enjoy Frankl's Vox/Turnabout set, but I think he just doesn't have the clarity of articulation and prestidigitation necessary for the Etudes.

Precisely my feelings too, verismissimo, except that you have articulated them so much more... articulately that I :cool2:

On balance it loks like the Uchida should be my choice. I am most grateful for the range of suggestions people have taken the trouble to post.



S-A

[Bryn]

I have developed something of an allergy to Uchida as a result of my listening experiences with her Schubert and Mozart sonata surveys on disc. Perhaps her Debussy Etudes would restore my previous admiration for her playing, but I'm in no hurry to find out.

[amateur51]

Just to jiggle the applecart of complacency a little , I've just been listening to Pollini's set on Spotify Unlimited and pretty damn' fine they are too.

[verismissimo]

I too was unmoved by Uchida's Schubert, Bryn.

[rauschwerk]

Uchida's Schubert and Mozart (neither of which I greatly care for myself) have nothing to do with the case. Her playing of the Debussy Etudes is superb and if you doubt me, sample Pour les Accords or Pour les huit doigts. A few bars of either will tell you that this is top notch playing, technically masterful and full of fantasy.

[verismissimo]

Uchida's Pour les huit doigts - absolutely stunning.

[rubbernecker]

Uchida's Pour les huit doigts - absolutely stunning.

I have had the Uchida recording from the time of its much-lauded Gramophone award, but I now realise why this is the only work Debussy's I have never "got into". As with most other pianists tackling this repertoire, I feel her performance sounds like a mechanical piano roll.

Having spent some time sampling various versions on the Amazon MP3 site (although Thibaudet is sadly absent) I have now found one which seems to tick all the boxes, and go some way beyond: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, as recommended by Highlanddougie above. For the first time in my life I can actually hear the music. Thanks, HD, that is now on order

Oh, and if you really want to hear Pour les Huits Doigts go here and scroll down to 196:

[verismissimo]

It's just so personal, the response to music, isn't it. On the CD with Uchida's Etudes there are also Schoenberg's Drei Klavierstucke op 11, which, if anything, I love even more than her Debussy.

[rubbernecker]

On the CD with Uchida's Etudes there are also Schoenberg's Drei Klavierstucke op 11

Not on the original CD release, sadly. Trying to make me spend more money V'mo

Oh, and I am a big fan of Uchida's Mozart, btw.

[Barbirollians]

Uchida's Hammerklavier is in IMO up there with the very greatest performances . I like her Schubert but strangely I was never all that taken with her Mozart with Tate.

[silvestrione]

[QUOTE=Gradus. Rarely programmed, I don't think I've ever heard the studies performed live.[/QUOTE] They're so difficult, i suppose. Pollini played them live on R3 years ago, together with stunning performances of Chopin Preludes and Stravinsky's Three Pieces from Petrushka. I recorded it on tape, but, alas, at that time I was not keen on the Debussy Etudes and did not keep that part!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

BaL 6.03.21 - Debussy: Études pour piano

9.30am
Building a Library
Iain Burnside joins Andrew to review recordings of Debussy’s quirky and technically-demanding Etudes for piano, looking to choose the ultimate release to buy, download or stream

Available versions:-

Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Håkon Austbø
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
Philippe Bianconi
Idil Biret
Luiza Borac
HieYon Choi *
Aldo Ciccolini
Paul Crossley
Julia Dahkvist
Larissa Dedova
Christopher Devine
Jacques Février *
Peter Frankl *
Walter Gieseking
Monique Haas
Werner Haas
Erika Haase
Hans Henkemans
Roy Howat
Paul Jacobs *
Martin Jones
Michael Korstick
Bennett Lerner
Jan Michiels
Joseph Moog
Roger Muraro
Noriko Ogawa
Garrick Ohlsson
Hiromi Okada *
Sally Pinkas *
Alain Planès
Maurizio Pollini *
Anne Queffélec
Julian Riem
Pascal Rogé
Charles Rosen *
Soulima Stravinsky *
Jeffrey Swann *
Jean-Yves Thibaudet
Francois-Joel Thiollier
Martino Tirimo
Fou Ts’ong
Mitsuko Uchida
Mariangela Vacatello
Élodie Vignon *
Paulina Zamora

[mikealdren]

Interesting to see whether anyone can unseat Uchida after all these years. I also have Livia Rev (nla), I'm still very fond of her Saga Debussy recordings, in many ways I prefer her to Gieseking.

[Serial_Apologist]

Mine are the Frankel versions on LP, coupled with L'Isle Joyeuse: a little too gentle and muzzy for detail than some - I first heard one or two of the set played by Lamar Crowson in a 1960s broadcast which hit precisely the right tone in every mood - but preferable to the non-mentioned Yvonne Loriod set on Erato, in which she gave every indication of the Messiaen pieces from the 1940s that took and amplified their rhythmic edge.