Debussy: D'un cahier d'esquisses (From a Sketchbook)

“The Brazilian takes on Debussy favourites (Preludes: Book 1, Children's Corner and Claire de Lune) with his usual dazzling clarity. Impressive in his keyboard scope, he offers moments of engaging insight. But while his note-striking is pure and brilliant, elsewhere Freire has a somewhat meaty approach, the detached perfection and button-brightness occasionally jarring with the more poetic, subtle ripples of Debussy's music.” The Times, 7th February 2009 ***

“…Nelson Freire… confesses to a special empathy for Debussy… and you will be hard pressed to find a recital of comparable warmth, affection and finesse. When you have heard "Voiles" gives with a greater sense of mystery… or witnessed playing throughout Book 1 of the Préludes more delicate, rapt and precise? Clair de lune, added, as it were, as an encore, is dreamy and magically remote...” Gramophone Magazine, April 2009

“Nelson Freire, the legendary Brazilian pianist and longtime musical partner of Martha Argerich, turns to Debussy. In the accompanying notes he confesses to a special empathy for Debussy and you will be hard pressed to find a recital of comparable warmth, affection and finesse. Here, there is no need for spurious gestures and inflections; everything is given with a supreme naturalness and a perfectly accomodated virtuosity that declare Freire a master pianist throughout. When have you heard 'Voiles' given with a greater sense of its mystery or witnessed playing throughout Book 1 of the Préludes more delicate, rapt and precise? There is lightly worn fantasy and expertise in 'La sérénade interrompue' and the direction Profondément calme (dans une brumedoucement sonore) is distilled into something close to perfection. Always Freire 'evokes rather than spells out' and has one every heard a more subtle or engaging way with 'Dr Gradus ad Parnassum' (from the Children's CornerSuite). Clair de lune, added, as it were, as an encore, is dreamy and magically remote, making you long for further Debussy from this artist. Decca's sound is warm and brilliant.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Where Bavouzet breaks out into blazing Mediterranean sunlight, Rogé is happy to withdraw into shadow-land. Time and again his playing suggests emotion recollected in tranquillity rather than turmoil;… "Poissons d'or" is a marvellous distillation of indolence and flashing disruption.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2008

“If anything, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet surpasses the high standards he set in his previous Debussy release… with this second instalment. …he focuses upon clarity of textures, rhythmic precision, well differentiated articulation, plus scrupulous balances between the hands and within chords.” Gramophone Magazine, Janurary 2008

“Bavouzet's strengths…to the fore, with glowing colours in the opening Ballade and Valse romantique, followed by sparkling elegance in the Danse.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008 ****

“No gently meandering Debussy for French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet in his second complete works instalment. Structure and clarity are, if not all, then at least to the forefront here, and the composer gains. In a way, by making the textures so clear, Bavouzet reveals (to an extent) how the magician does his tricks – and it just leaves you admiring Debussy all the more.” Gramophone Magazine

“While Bavouzet is no slouch in the tone-colour department, his interpretations do not primarily concern themselves with sound-painting. Instead he focuses upon clarity of textures, rhythmic precision, well differentiated articulation, plus scrupulous balances between the hands and within chords. Timbral variety and tonal allure arise from these elements working together. As you listen to Bavouzet's effortless rhythmic lilt and buoyant sense of line in the Tarantelle styrienne, Masques and 'Jardins sous la pluie', or his firm bass underpinnings and impeccably calibrated arabesques throughout L'isle joyeuse, you don't perceive the 'hammerless' piano of Debussy's dreams. Instead, the piano's innards morph into a finely honed chamber orchestra.
Similarly in 'Pagodes', Bavouzet's sharply profiled melodies shed welcome animated light on a piece that's often interpreted too flaccidly. Some might favour a warmer, more curvaceous way with the Valse romantique but Bavouzet's shapelier urgency proves more convincing in Pour lepiano's central Sarabande, as well as its earlier incarnation in the cycle of 'forgotten' Images.
The recorded sound is never less than pleasing.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Debussy playing does not come any better than this” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“Captivating playing” of “exceeding beauty and refinement” have earned the previous volumes of Noriko Ogawa's Debussy cycle the highest recommendations, including no less than two Editor's Choice in Gramophone.

“Every bar of these performances confirms Ogawa as a most elegant, scrupulously sensitive interpreter of 'music like a dream from which one draws away the veil' (Debussy). She achieves a magical transparency throughout Book 1 of the Préludes with her refined pedalling and cool command of texture and colour. In 'Voiles' she makes you readily recall Cortot's heady description of 'the flight of the white wing on the crooning sea toward the horizon bright with the setting sun' while maintaining her own individuality. Her hushed start before the start of the whirling tarantella in 'Les collines d'Anacapri' is one of many haunting touches; and her playing of 'Des pas sur la neige', the Arctic centre of Book 1 of the Préludes, suggests some ultimate desolation. In Children's Corner she never turns 'Doctor Gradus', marked modérémentanimé, into a glittering presto and finds time to convey its mix of guile and sophistication. You could hardly find a more skilful or sympathetic artist from a younger generation. BIS's demonstration sound quality crowns this superb issue.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010