Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The works on this recording were written at various periods in Claude Debussy’s life, and reflect different aspects of him: from a young man stylistically unsure of himself to the confident maître, from a jobbing composer struggling to fulfill sometimes incongruous commissions to a man worn down by illness and outer events.

The disc opens with Printemps – a work originally for choir, piano and orchestra written in 1887 during Debussy’s stay in Italy as a winner of the Prix de Rome, but only published 25 years later in an orchestration made by Henri Büsser under the composer’s supervision. Three of the works that follow were commissions – the Rapsodie from a lady saxophonist, the Marche écossaise from an American general of Scottish descent and the Deux Dances from the instrument-maker Pleyel wanting to market a new model for a chromatic harp.

Chronologically the last work on the program, Berceuse héroique is Debussy's contribution to a tribute to the king of Belgium at the beginning of the Great War. Having rejected the idea of writing a heroic march in the safety of his own home he instead opted for a lullaby for piano, which he orchestrated the following year.

The closing work on the disc, however, is Nocturnes, for which Debussy borrowed the title from a series of atmospheric paintings by James Whistler. Made up of three equally atmospheric movements, it is today one of Debussy’s best-loved compositions for orchestra.

Nocturnes also forms the end of a trilogy of Debussy albums from the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Lan Shui. Critical acclaim for the team range from ‘superb’ (BBC Music Magazine, about La mer) and ‘unquestionably world-class’ (Klassik-Heute.de, about the orchestra) to ‘a magnificent disc’ – the French magazine Classica’s verdict on the three ballet scores Jeux, Khamma and La Boîte à joujoux.

After setting three of his friend Pierre Lou�s's 1894 prose poems in Les Chansons de Bilitis, Debussy was asked by him to provide incidental music for a mimed recitation of another 12 poems. A single performance was given on 7 February 1901, after rehearsals of which Lou�s wrote: 'I'm spending every afternoon with naked women. It's nice.' The poems were spoofs on those by Sappho, supposedly a friend of the non-existent Bilitis, and a review praised the music as 'ingeniously archaic'. Debussy's scoring evokes the imagined sound of ancient Greece: the two flutes represent the aulos, associated with satyrs and the Dionysian cult; and the two harps speak for the kythara, associated with Apollo. Interwoven with the music is the bright sound of the celesta, the metal instrument patented by Auguste Mustel in 1886 that constitutes a meeting point between the Apollonian and the Dionysian. The missing celesta part of the incidental music, no doubt taken by Debussy himself, was recreated by Arthur Ho�r�e. In 1914 Debussy reworked passages of the music in his �pigraphes antiques for piano duet. Although the Chansons and the Epigraphes have often been recorded, they are very rarely recorded together with the incidental music, making this new album a uniquely cohesive and attractive album presenting Debussy at his most sensuous and Orientalist. There is a postlude to the album which continues it's theme with Syrinx for solo flute, Debussy's dreamy evocation of the god Pan that also had it's origins in music for the stage. Distinguished Italian musicians have joined forces to form the Magadis Ensemble. The ensemble's flexible line-up and wide repertoire focuses on vocal and instrumental chamber music by 20th- and 21st-century composers such as Debussy, Ravel, Dallapiccola and Scelsi.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Their third duo album on Signum Classics, husband and wife Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung unite to bring an album of French works by Debussy and Ravel in versions for piano duo and four hands. With arrangements by Dutilleux and Ravel himself key works include ‘Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune’ for four hands and La valse for two pianos.

Finnish pianist, Marita Viitasalo is known for her accompaniment with lied singers which requires skills and sensibilities that are distinctly different than those of a soloist or chamber musician. These Debussy Préludes indeed suggest not only her tremendous pianistic facility but her ability to listen in between the notes, a critical need for lied accompanists.

Debussy's Twelve Études have long been regarded as being among the most enigmatic of his piano works - and have thus been among the least often performed. Chilean-American virtuoso Pualina Zamora, however, is one of today's more adventurous leading pianists championing these keyboard masterpieces. In this second Delos album featuring her artistry, Paulina's brilliant performances of Debussy's seldom-heard etudes attest to both her technical powers and interpretive acumen. And she continues to prove to her audiences that - beneath these studies' outer veneers of finger-twisting technical difficulty - lie marvels of rare atmosphere, tone color and sheer beauty.

This recording presents two of Claude Debussy's enduring masterpieces- the Children's Corner suite (1908), and his brilliant- Études (Books 1 & 2) (1915), played by the American pianist, Aleck Karis. Aleck Karis has performed recitals, chamber music, and concertos across the Americas, Europe and in China. As the pianist of the new music ensemble Speculum Musicae he has participated in over a hundred premieres and performed at major American and European festivals. His appearances with orchestra have ranged from concertos by Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin to those of Stravinsky, Messiaen and Carter. His five solo discs on Bridge Records include Aleck Karis performs Schumann, Carter, Chopin; Aleck Karis: Mozart Recital; Stravinsky: Music for Piano 1911-1942; John Cage: Sonatas and Interludes; and Karis Plays Webern, Wolpe & Feldman. His two albums on Romeo Records are Piano Music of Philip Glass and Late Piano Music of Frederic Chopin. He is a Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of California, San Diego, and Associate Dean of the Division of Arts and Humanities.

Classical Music