DEBUSSY: Piano Works, Vol. 1

We Say...

Review by John Schaefer

Debussy’s Preludes for Piano, especially the dozen that comprise Book I, are essential listening — whether you’re a classical music fan or not. (Indie-rocker alert: you really can’t know where Joanna Newsom’s Ys is coming from until you hear Debussy’s “La Cathedrale Engloutie,” about the legendary submerged city of Ys.) You can find several first-rate recordings of the Preludes on eMusic, and special mention must be made of Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s recording and the complete Preludes offered by Pascal Rogé. But Frankl gets the nod because his two-CD set just might include all the Debussy piano music you’ll ever need. All the hits are here: “Claire de Lune” from the Suite Bergamasque; “Reflets dans L’eau,” a masterpiece of Impressionism from the first set of “Images”; and the lovely but often overlooked “Arabesques.” But the Preludes have pride of place. From the fleet and fleeting sounds of the opening “Danseuses des Delphes” (the Dancers of Delphi) to the heavy tolling of the cathedral bells in the aforementioned “La Cathedrale Engloutie” (The Sunken Cathedral), the Preludes offer a world of sounds from the piano’s 88 keys and the pianist’s ten fingers.

Looking for an easy way in to the world of classical piano? The first book of Preludes includes the famous “La fille aux cheveux de lin” (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair) and “Des Pas sur la Neige” (Footsteps in the Snow) — two of the standard-bearers of the Impressionist movement, and almost as iconic as “Claire de Lune.”

It’s ironic that what we often consider to be such distinctly French music has been championed so effectively by non-French musicians, starting with the great Walter Gieseking; Peter Frankl certainly puts himself in that tradition with this splendid recording.