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Debussy: Preludes For Piano, Books 1 & 2 / Catherine Kautsky
Centaur Records

Debussy: Preludes For Piano, Books 1 & 2 / Catherine Kautsky

$18.99

Details

Composer
DEBUSSY, CLAUDE
Artist
Catherine Kautsky
Format
CD
Label
Centaur Records
Released
Sep 09, 2014
Catalog #
CRC 3308
UPC
044747330822

About

Catherine Kautsky is professor of music and chair of keyboard studies at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and boasts an enviable multi-faceted resume of performing and writing credits. Nearly everything about her recording of Debussy’s 24 Preludes is just right, from the relaxed animation and subtle gradations of tone throughout Danseuses de Delphes to Feux d’artifice’s combination of neo-Lisztian bravura and dry wit. The flickering quality of Voiles’ double notes somehow lightens the static whole-note-scale harmony.

Kautsky ‘s intimately scaled reading of Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir brings out the music’s implicit minuet feeling that we don’t hear in heavier interpretations. In Des pas sur la neige, Kautsky not only makes the soft left-hand triplets and expressive right-hand melody timbrally distinct, but her faster than usual tempo also conveys a lighter, more floating ambience than today’s solemn, bleaker norm. Kautsky also communicates the ragged dance qualities of La serenade interrompue, La danse de Puck, Minstrels, and General Lavine–eccentric to perfection, although La puerta del vino moves too fast and impatiently for its habañera rhythms to seduce.

While many pianists make mush out of Brouillards’ middle-register chords, Kautsky clarifies their inner rhythms, although her very capable handling of Book 2 No. 10’s alternating thirds yields to Steven Osborne’s brisker, more shimmering rendition. Her lovely account of La cathedral engloutie observes the unmarked yet implied tempo changes Debussy made in his 1913 Welte-Mignon piano roll recording (as do Osborne and Paul Jacobs, but not, interestingly enough, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli). If the tumultuous Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest lacks Osborne’s super-precise dynamic calibration and surface sheen, the sensitively nuanced Ondine and La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune compensate. The engineering’s warm piano sonority and discreet resonance befits Kautsky’s intelligent and insightful Debussy artistry.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Tracklist 24 tracks

  1. 1 No. 1. Danseuses de Delphes 02:51
    Track
    1
    Title
    No. 1. Danseuses de Delphes
    Duration
    02:51
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  2. 2 No. 2. Voiles 03:20
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 2. Voiles
    Duration
    03:20
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  3. 3 No. 3. Le vent dans la plaine 02:27
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 3. Le vent dans la plaine
    Duration
    02:27
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  4. 4 No. 4. Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir 03:08
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 4. Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir
    Duration
    03:08
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  5. 5 No. 5. Les collines d'Anacapri 03:04
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 5. Les collines d'Anacapri
    Duration
    03:04
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  6. 6 No. 6. Des pas sur la neige 03:27
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 6. Des pas sur la neige
    Duration
    03:27
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  7. 7 No. 7. Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest 03:36
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 7. Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest
    Duration
    03:36
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  8. 8 No. 8. La fille aux cheveux de lin 02:21
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 8. La fille aux cheveux de lin
    Duration
    02:21
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  9. 9 No. 9. La serenade interrompue 02:32
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 9. La serenade interrompue
    Duration
    02:32
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  10. 10 No. 10. La cathedrale engloutie 06:07
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 10. La cathedrale engloutie
    Duration
    06:07
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  11. 11 No. 11. La danse de Puck 02:55
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 11. La danse de Puck
    Duration
    02:55
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  12. 12 No. 12. Minstrels 02:22
    Track
    12
    Title
    No. 12. Minstrels
    Duration
    02:22
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  13. 13 No. 1. Brouillards 03:05
    Track
    13
    Title
    No. 1. Brouillards
    Duration
    03:05
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  14. 14 No. 2. Feuilles mortes 02:50
    Track
    14
    Title
    No. 2. Feuilles mortes
    Duration
    02:50
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  15. 15 No. 3. La puerta del vino 02:53
    Track
    15
    Title
    No. 3. La puerta del vino
    Duration
    02:53
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  16. 16 No. 4. Les fees sont d'exquises danseuses 03:07
    Track
    16
    Title
    No. 4. Les fees sont d'exquises danseuses
    Duration
    03:07
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  17. 17 No. 5. Bruyeres 02:45
    Track
    17
    Title
    No. 5. Bruyeres
    Duration
    02:45
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  18. 18 No. 6. General Lavine - eccentric 02:38
    Track
    18
    Title
    No. 6. General Lavine - eccentric
    Duration
    02:38
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  19. 19 No. 7. La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune 04:08
    Track
    19
    Title
    No. 7. La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune
    Duration
    04:08
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  20. 20 No. 8. Ondine 03:14
    Track
    20
    Title
    No. 8. Ondine
    Duration
    03:14
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  21. 21 No. 9. Hommage a S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C 02:21
    Track
    21
    Title
    No. 9. Hommage a S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C
    Duration
    02:21
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  22. 22 No. 10. Canope 02:35
    Track
    22
    Title
    No. 10. Canope
    Duration
    02:35
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  23. 23 No. 11. Les tierces alternees 02:47
    Track
    23
    Title
    No. 11. Les tierces alternees
    Duration
    02:47
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky
  24. 24 No. 12. Feux d'artifice 04:31
    Track
    24
    Title
    No. 12. Feux d'artifice
    Duration
    04:31
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Catherine Kautsky