Jean-Yves Thibaudet is not a pianist to be pigeon-holed. Alongside the recordings of his ... more
fellow countrymen Debussy and Ravel, he has also recorded a tribute to the jazz giant, Conversations with Bill Evans, and plays on the soundtrack of the film Portrait of a Lady. Perhaps this catholic approach accounts for the freshness of his Debussy playing. Nor for him the "stick the pedal down and make an impressionistic wash of sound" approach. His playing is clean and refreshing without losing any of the voluptuous sensuality of Debussy at his most beguiling. I challenge anyone to try "Reflets dans l'eau" which opens this set without feeling the stress ebb away. There are lollipops to be found among the extensive repertory on these two discs, including the celebrated "Clair de Lune" from the Suite Bergamasque and the "Golliwogg's Cake-Walk" from Children's Corner. The mainstay of the release is the two sets of Images and the two books of Etudes, 12 studies whose demands are not for the faint-hearted. Luckily that excludes Thibaudet, who offers virtuosic and thoughtful performances of pieces which while written to help develop pianists' technique stand up magnificently as music to be listened to. --Keith Clarke
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Advantages: Dreamy, peaceful, emotional music; range of abilities catered for Disadvantages: None!
From a piano player's point of view, Debussy is a true master of the
composing craft. His pieces wash over you as you play, enfolding
you in the various emotions - joy, sadness, surprise, peace - which
are so deeply engrained in the music. There are pieces to suit all
abilities, from the (for the most part) fairly easy Rêverie to some of
the fiendishly difficult Préludes, for which the scores look like
nothing you've seen on earth; and whilst the pieces on occasion
may sound discordant and even simply bad at first, stick with them
as every time you will in the end be richly rewarded. Playing a
Debussy piece isn't about learning notes and precise regimented
time signatures, as with Bach for example. It's about letting your
emotions flow out into the piano, about letting yourself go
completely, just for a few moments. Start ...
Advantages: Excellent selection and performance of piano works by Frank Bridge Disadvantages: A few pieces are not very interesting
make these pieces conjure up the pictures of the titles.
There are a few other pieces on the CD which I find rather uninteresting, but these are a small minority.
The CD ends with the Four Vignettes de Marseille. These are reminiscent of the Spanish pieces of Debussy and Ravel. Perhaps even more, they recall Iberia for piano by the Spanish composer Albeniz. They are full of Spanish melodies and Spanish atmosphere (even though Marseille is actually in France). These pieces are shorter and more varied than Iberia, and more readily appreciated than some of the Spanish pieces by Debussy. Jacobs brings these pieces to life.
Overall an excellent CD providing an opportunity to enjoy a wide range of worthwhile works for which very few recordings are available. I would recommend it to any listener interested in this type of music ...
Advantages: Excellent physcological study of character. Disadvantages: Grim, brutal, shocking scenes of a sexual nature.
the piano with excellence is evident, and although she trains them to this stage of perfection, she becomes jealous of their hard earned achievement when they have reached their pinnacle. Erica is highly strung and sexually charged, and she is also a bitter and vindictive individual. One day she meets a promising young male pianist at a recital, by the name of Walter (Magimel Kramer). Walter is a handsome,arrogant, and self confident young man, and there is an instantaneous strong mutual bond, a meeting of minds, and a deep physical attraction, and she sees something in him that she seems to have been searching for. They talk and discover they both share the love of the works of Schumann and Schubert. This is a further attraction for Erica, and an unhealthy obsession towards him begins to take shape in her mind. ~
Erica teaches ...
Morning_Becomes_Electra 20.01.2008 (25.01.2008)
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