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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Debussy - Complete Piano Works Volume 5
For the final volume in his Debussy edition for ONYX, Pascal Roge is joined by his wife Ami in a collection of works for piano 4 hands and for 2 pianos. Since the release of Volume 1 Preludes I & II in 2005, Roge’s recordings of Debussy have been received with critical acclaim. He is the quintessential interpreter for this repertoire. “The most engaging is the Petite Suite, delivered with a buoyant, rippling touch to bring out its warmth and charm.” The Independent, 2nd September 2011 *** “Here there is spaciousness, an evocation of colour and character, a seemingly effortless precision in the duo works that put this in the front rank of Debussy.” Classical Music, 24th September 2011 **** “There is no doubting either Rogé's touch, with some spine-tingling textures in the final 'Scherzando' of En blanc et noir, and evocative eeriness in 'Pour l'Egyptienne' from the Epigraphes antiques.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 ** “The masterpiece here is En blanc et noir...The Roges revel in its many nuances and the glistening sonorities of the textures” Gramophone Magazine, December 2011 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Debussy & Ravel - Music for Two Pianos
One of the twentieth century's greatest pianists returns to the piano with a disc of rarely recorded French Impressionist duets with his son Vovka Ashkenazy. “Ashkenazy père et fils… clearly having much fun, especially in Rapsodie espagnol, drawing a wide range of colour, and some wonderfully delicate shading.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2009 *** “Father and son join forces here with winning élan. Vladimir Ashkenazy is one of the great pianists of modern times, with a legacy of landmark solo and concerto recordings to challenge anybody’s. His son Vovka has inherited the genes and, on disc, has collaborated in performances of chamber music by Tchaikovsky, Arensky, Poulenc and Ravel.” The Telegraph, 11th August 2009 **** “Early 20th-century repertoire has often brought out the best in Vladimir as pianist and conductor, and he certainly plays with love here. Harnessed to their Steinways, father and son display exceptionally close rapport, thinking and breathing as one in music that requires almost inhuman co-ordination to do its magic full justice. No note is out of place, no texture muddy. They’re at their very best in Ravel’s La Valse transcription and the Feria finale of Rapsodie espagnole, where they spray the listener with kaleidoscopic textures and modulate dynamics with the punch of master dramatists.” The Times, 7th August 2009 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Debussy - Works for two pianos, four hands
Claude Helffer & Haakon Austbö (pianos) | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Ralph van Raat & Håkon Austbø play Messiaen & Debussy
Both the works on this recording were written during wartime. Debussy’s 1915 En blanc et noir, composed during a late creative burst, is his musical response to the horrors of World War I. Messiaen’s revolutionary Visions de l’Amen from 1943, written to be performed by the composer and his teenage pupil, Yvonne Loriod, is a profound religious meditation whose emotional intensity is overwhelming. The role of the two pianos is clearly divided. Melodic and expressive elements are confined to the second piano, Messiaen’s part, whereas all that is percussion, brilliance and rhythmic development is heard in the first piano, Loriod’s part. Dutch pianist and musicologist Ralph van Raat has won, among other awards, Second Prize and Donemus-Prize (for Contemporary Music) of the Princess Christina Competition (1995); Stipend-Prize Darmstadt during the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt (1998); and First Prize of the International Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition (1999). Of Norwegian origin, Håkon Austbø was the first non-French artist to win the Concours National de la Guilde Française des Artistes Solistes in Paris (1970), and in 1971 he gained international attention when a unanimous jury awarded him the first prize of the Olivier Messiaen Competition for Contemporary Music in Royan, France. “Their approach, characterised by fierce dynamic contrasts, jagged phrasing and explosive fortissimos, suits Messiaen's highly coloured extremes of rapture and religious awe far more convincingly than it does Debussy's much more svelte textures, in which van Raat and Austbo seem to mistake capriciousness for emotional turmoil.” The Guardian, 19th April 2012 **** “[In the Messiaen] Van Raat and Austbo shape the first movement's long paragraphs wth a patience, sensitivity and rhythmic exactitude that slowly build to a climax...At piano 2, Austbo has most of the tunes and he particularly shines in the fourth movement's extended solo...collectors interested in this coupling of works can't go wrong” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012 “Austbo's affinity with Messiaen is frequently apparent: the Norwegian pianist's hushed, nuanced voicing in 'Amen du desir' suggests his deep awareness, too, of Catalogue d'oiseaux...Austbo and Van Raat launch into Debussy's En blanc et noir with bristling enthusiasm, and there is much charm on display.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2012 *** “Good programming this, as Messiaen’s musical language owes much to the harmonic adventurism of his illustrious compatriot...Impressive, well-presented performances; just a little short on fervour and insight.” MusicWeb International, June 2012 | | | (also available to download from $6.00) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Debussy: Works For Two Pianos and Four Hands
Philipe Cassard & Français Chaplin (pianos) Award winning and Debussy specialist, Philippe Cassard, celebrates the 150th anniversary of Debussy’s birth, by deciding to record the works for 2 pianos and 4 hands with his fellow pianist François Chaplin, who is another specialist of the composer. The recently discovered Premiere Suite adds extra interest to this all ready scintillating recording. | | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Debussy: Orchestral Works Volume 6
Volume 6 in Naxos’s popular series presents five highly diverse works in gorgeous orchestrations by Debussy’s colleagues or later admirers. Indeed, pieces such as Clair de lune and Printemps may even be better known in these seductive guises than in their original forms. Of particular interest is Debussy’s sole attempt at composing a symphony, a youthful work imbued with the spirit of French Romanticism, only the first movement of which he completed. Jun Märkl’s exemplary interpretations of Debussy’s orchestral music have been praised for their “subtle and sensitive readings” (Gramophone). “This is bewitching music-making that should on no account be missed … One of the finest discs Naxos has ever released” Classic FM on Volume 1 (8570759). “The latest disc in Naxos’s survey of Debussy’s orchestral music is one for a sunny day when you haven’t a care in the world... The Suite bergamasque with the Clair de lune movement, the charming Petite Suite and a movement from the B minor Symphony are all idiomatically played.” The Telegraph, 19th May 2011 *** “Some of the orchestral versions in Vol 6 are probably just as well known as their keyboard originals, particularly Busser's of the Petite Suite, done with the utmost finesse...Robin Holloway's 2002 version of En blanc et noir breathes Debussian air, as does Tony Finno's realisation of the early Symphony” Gramophone Magazine, July 2011 “If trying to rethink Debussy's sublimely idiomatic piano writing in orchestral terms isn't challenging enough, to make it sound like an orchestral original borders on the impossible. Yet miraculously, this is just what Jun Märkl achieves...He makes En blanc et noir sound even more alluring than in its two-piano original, while an early symphonic movement that originally never got beyond piano-duet scoring emerges like liquid gold.” Classic FM Magazine, July 2011 ***** “They capture perfectly the flash and dazzle of the Suite bergamasque, particularly in the high-voltage opening and closing movements, and charm us with the graceful Petite Suite and Printemps.” The Observer, 19th June 2011 “Jun Märkl treats [the piano] as a secondary percussion instrument and the result is surprisingly effective. [En blanc et noir] sounds not merely like Debussy, but like late Debussy, and Holloway's few additions consistently enhance the spirit of the original.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2011 **** | | | (also available to download from $6.00) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Toni and Rosi Grunschlag: Live Recordings from 1978 and 1981
Toni Grunschlag (piano), Rosi Grunschlag (piano) | |
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| |  | Argerich & Kovacevich play Bartók, Debussy & Mozart
An addition the DECCA Originals range to mark the 70th birthday of Stephen Kovacevich [17 October]. The original LP release containing Bartók's Sonata for two pianos and percussion with works by Mozart & Debussy won a Gramophone Award in 1978 for Best Chamber Music recording. Stephen Kovacevich's recordings of Bartók have long been regarded as reference recordings, and also included in this reissue are his acclaimed performances of the Sonatina and Out of Doors. Booklet contains an appreciation by David Gutman. “this performance of Bartok's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion remains peerless. The couplings are no less compelling.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2011 ***** “Recorded in 1977, this strongly atmospheric and finely characterized performance of the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion still remains a top choice. This is most imaginative playing and the recording is exceptionally wide-ranging and truthful. It is difficult to imagine a more eloquent or better-recorded account of this powerful work. The rapport between the artists produces undoubted electricity” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Two-Piano Music of Messiaen & Debussy
Ursula Oppens & Jerome Lowenthal (piano) This is an inspired pairing 20th-century French works for duo piano composed during the century’s greatest conflicts: Olivier Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen (Visions of Amen) and Claude Debussy’s En blanc et noir (In Black and White). On other recordings, Visions de l’Amen typically appears alone or as part of an all-Messiaen program. Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen, from 1943, was composed in wartime Paris during the German occupation. With an orchestral range of colors and immense dynamic range, it’s a monumental set of seven mystical meditations, most beginning subtly and building to an exhilarating intensity. Debussy’s En blanc et noir, from 1915, is the composer’s response to World War I. A landmark in the two-piano genre, the three-movement work is notoriously difficult to play. Ursula Oppens is known for her enduring commitment to integrating new music into regular concert life. She has premiered works by Elliott Carter, Luciano Berio, György Ligeti, Witold Lutoslawski, and Charles Wuorinen, to name a few of the eminent modern composers she’s been associated with. She has performed with virtually all of the world’s major orchestras. Jerome Lowenthal plays with a combination of youthful intensity and eloquence born of life experience. He studied in his native Philadelphia with Olga Samaroff-Stokowski, in New York with William Kapell and Edward Steuermann, and in Paris with Alfred Cortot, while traveling annually to Los Angeles for coachings with Artur Rubinstein. He has appeared as soloist with celebrated conductors of the present and past, and His chamber music collaborators include Itzhak Perlman and the Lark, Avalon, and Brentano quartets. “differences are delineated by exaggerating the spatial separation between the two pianos...Oppens and Lowenthal give a committed performance. At times they find a remarkable translucence, and there are some memorable hushed moments.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2010 *** | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Le SacreDebussy - Stravinsky
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