Claude Achille Debussy

Debussy completed his two books of Préludes in 1910 and 1913 respectively, and they contain some of his most visionary and poetic writing for piano. There are evocations of calm seascapes, delicate wind tracery, and snow-covered landscapes. Some moments are steeped in antiquity, such as La cathédrale engloutie, others in expressive portraiture, as in La fille aux cheveux de lin. There is even a cake-walk. The Préludes are performed here in the subtle and colouristic orchestrations of much-admired Slovak-born composer Peter Breiner.

This recording includes performances of two impressionist masterpieces – String Quartets of Debussy and Ravel - from the Gardner Museum in Boston as well as Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro. The album features violinists Joseph Lin and Soovin Kim, and cellist David Soyer, artists well known to Marlboro Music Festival audiences.

Images brings together the piano music of George Crumb with that of two of his major influences, Claude Debussy and Béla Bartók, as well as that of one of his contemporaries, John Adams. All of these composers speak a common language - one that explores pianistic timbre in a distinctive, evocative manner. The unique sonorities of these works, particularly in combination with their descriptive titles, impart a sense of Images: some aural, some visual, and others more abstract.