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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Hommage à Debussy: Works for Piano Vol. 3
The works are performed by the the brilliant young Chinese pianist Chenyin Li. The CD includes L’Isle joyeuse and the second book of Préludes. Each piece is finely chiselled and full of colour. | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | 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 - Complete Works for Solo Piano Volume 2
“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 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Debussy - Complete Piano Works Volume 2
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| |  | Debussy: Complete Solo Piano Music, Vol.1
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Also available as part of the Debussy - The Piano Works box set, ALC4002. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Debussy: Works for Piano
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| |  | Debussy: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 3
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| |  | Reinis Zarins: Circus & Magic
London‐based pianist Reinis Zarins makes his debut recording for Champs Hill Records with ‘Circus and Magic’. Born in Riga in 1985, he is a prize‐winner in eleven international piano competitions and performs regularly with leading orchestras in Latvia for broadcast on national radio and TV, and has been recognized with national awards. He has performed at the Lucerne Festival, Bath Musicfest and the Norfolk & Norwich Festival. Ernest Bloch, essentially a romantic composer torn between his natural instincts and modernist trends, produced his character sketches The Four Circus Pieces for private performance but was eventually persuaded to publish them. One is dedicated to “the sad and ever‐comprehending Charlie Chaplin” whom Bloch admired. He sent the music to Chaplin, himself a skillful composer, but received no reply. Included on this album are three pieces by Debussy, including his firework display in Feux d’Artifice, a fantastic display of inventive piano‐writing, and Masques , inspired by the Commedia dell'arte as painted by Watteau - a blend of joy and pathos. Marguerite Long, who studied with Debussy, wrote: “I hear Masques - a tragedy for piano one might call it - as a sort of transparency of Debussy's character … He was torn with poignant feelings which he preferred to mask with irony”. Three Pieces from Prokofiev’s ballet music for Cinderella follow: Intermezzo creates wonderful imagery of the Waltz guests danced to at the ball; Gavotte - played during a scene in which Cinderella takes a broom as her dancing partner; and Slow Waltz, the penultimate number in the full ballet, which is played as the Prince and Cinderella dance together in an enchanted garden. Even when divorced from their orchestral colour, these pieces still possess a strong tactile feeling and a sense of wonderment. Ligeti's eighteen Études have become modern classics. Étude No.10 (Der Zauberlehrling) dates from 1994 and is named after the celebrated Goethe poem which inspired Dukas to write his symphonic poem/scherzo The Sorcerer's Apprentice. This recital disc concludes with Three Pieces from Petrushka by Stravinsky arranged in 1921 from the 1911 original, and dedicated to Arthur Rubinstein. Danse Russe is taken from the music in Tableau One to which Petrushka and the other puppets dance after being brought to life, and is followed by In Petrushka’s Room. The Shrovetide Fair, with its evocation of a teeming crowd, completes the set. With these pieces, Stravinsky stated his intention of writing something essentially pianistic ‐ in no way an imitation of the sound of the orchestral score. “the Ligeti is a delight, beginning with needle-sharp precision and culminating in Mediterranean warmth. Zarins's Prokofiev is nicely idiomatic, and his performance of Petrushka is one of the most charming accounts of this work I have ever heard.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2013 *** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Debussy: Solo Piano Music
Angela Hewitt’s previous forays into the French repertoire have been praised for their ‘tenderness, Gallic wit, verve, and—the most important ingredient of all—charm’. These qualities are very much to the fore in this new disc of Debussy featuring some of the composer’s most sunlit, delightful and popular works. Children’s Corner was written for Debussy’s beloved daughter (though not, as Hewitt explains, for her to play immediately). Hewitt embraces the music’s wit, artful references and gentle beauty. The atmospheric Suite bergamasque includes the famous ‘Clair de lune’. Also included are the tragic Masques and gorgeously exuberant L’isle joyeuse. Hewitt and Debussy are a perfect match. “This is one of the better offerings for Debussy's 150th anniversary...This generously filled disc finds Hewitt utterly persuasive in the three suites at its heart...Hyperion caputres the sound marvellously. Hewitt has the knack of noticing details without letting them detract from the musical flow...Special mention should be made of 'Clair de lune': it is quite an achievement for its lyrical beauty to be heard afresh.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2012 ***** “Hewitt has put together an ideal introduction to Debussy, but it’s one that can be enjoyed equally by experienced listeners – thanks to the artless touch and precise colours the Canadian pianist brings to each piece.” Financial Times, 27th October 2012 **** “There's not a trace of the "impressionistic" about her treatment of any of them: this is Debussy portrayed in clean, bright colours and sharply focused detail, with every rhythm precisely etched...it's undeniably high-class playing, even when you don't agree with some of its details.” The Guardian, 4th October 2012 **** “Hewitt’s spectrum of touch, her fluency and sense of colour are deployed with equal enchantment in the first of the two arabesques, her lightness, rhythmic precision and varieties of tonal weight making the second arabesque into a glistening, fanciful filigree...Hewitt brilliantly and sensitively points up the traits that lend the music such distinctive character and evocative presence, not least in an account of “L’Isle joyeuse” that is pure, ravishing radiance.” The Telegraph, 5th October 2012 ***** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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Gramophone Awards 2008
Gramophone Magazine