Customer Reviews

Debussy: 12 Etudes

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Penguin Guide calls this recording of Debussy's endlessly fascinating Etudes "one of the best recordings of the instrument (piano)." They're probably not far from wrong. The difficulties of faithfully reproducing the sound of such a seemingly uncomplicated instrument as a piano are well known to recording engineers. Philips has surmounted those challenges with one of the finest sounding piano recordings I've ever heard.

Factor in the effortless-sounding but intellecutally stimulating skills of Uchida and a set of piano works which no less a composer than Stravinsky considered his favorite 20th-century piano music, and you have a hands-down winner of a disc.

Buy it today.

Hardly the most popular of Debussy's music for piano, these 12 Etudes, his last compositions for the instrument, are the very essence and substance of his art. Everything Debussy ever composed for the piano is literally "distilled" in twelve "studies" that, like magic, form a magnificent primer enabling us to unlock his artistic psyche and gaze even more deeply than ever before into his genius. Each etude is a "key." Music like this, which has virtually languished unrecorded for the most part, aside from "complete" collections of Debussy's piano works, we listen to now, anew, awed, enlightened, humbled. Uchida's performance is nothing less than incredible. Under her fingers, these neglected pieces jump to life, vital and telling, moody and nostalgic. Her musical understanding of these works is so penetrating she melds with Debussy... and, then, resurrects him. It's impossible to listen to these 12 Etudes and deny feeling the tangible "presence" of the composer. This is thrilling, wondrous, utterly captivating pianism fully realized by the Philips engineers.

[Running time: 47:12]

Just to add a caveat to the other reviews for the novice listener exploring Debussy's solo piano music ... If you have seen the many music-press accolades for this "landmark" recording (Penguin 'Rosette' etc) but are newer to Debussy's music, this may not be the best place to start. Debussy composed these works late in life to leave a "framework" of the new musical sounds and techniques he pioneered. For those not familiar with French, "Etude" refers to a lesson or educational excersise. Thus, the structure and intent here is pedagogic and not as much to paint those famous "impressionistic soundscapes" as in much of Debussy's music. As a result, this collection of 12 "lessons" will appeal more to the pianophile, student or true Debussy fan.

Mitsuko Uchida plays these pieces with a seamless precision and crystalline clarity, employing impressive velocity of passage work. Her sound is enhanced too by a brilliant Phillips' engineering session. Whether her readings here are considered "overdriven" will depend on how you think the music should best be played. Regardless, its hard not be amazed with her playing here. Additionally, her dynamic range is wide (pp-ff) which might not appeal to the casual listener not familiar with this music. I cannot say I enjoyed this music as much as the other Debussy recordings in my collection. The Etudes are less "accessible" compared to his other piano works and tends to need more study to fully appreciate perhaps (hence, "Etude"). So, those newer to Debussy and looking for those dreamy, "atmospheric" washes of chromatic colour should consider his Images (Book 1,2), Etampes and Preludes instead. There are many fine recordings of these - but Paul Jacobs' famous sets would be one solid, affordable choice.

Mitsuko Uchida plays with customary grace and poetry, and as usual her artistic insights are always original, always challenging, but never indifferent.
I had known about the etudes and how they were written in Debussy's so called late compositional style and was intrigued to listen to them, knowing their influence to Messaein, Boulez, Stockhausen, et al.
His style here is more sinuous than early Debussy. Debussy in these pieces is, for me, akin to Mozart or Ravel in the clarity of his expression. The consision of these pieces is delightful. Each idea is concentrated, a perfect idea in itself, which is moulded, shaped and developed by Debussy in the most fascinating and awe inspiring way. His technique here is masterful, each idea at the same time seems inevitable upon repeated hearing, yet utterly spontaneous. The suprise of the music, is always enlightening.
One can see how Debussy was actually one of the twentieth century's great musical revolutionaries, in some ways the most radical. One can hear Gamelan in the rich,absorbing ambience and sonority of "pour les sonorites opposees", irony and paradox in "pour les "cingt doigts" d'apres Monsieur Czerny", introspection and meditation in "pour les Quartes" and so on. Each piece is a musical world, unique in its own, and after a few months, different experiences will immediately cause some of the etudes to flood back instinctively and wrap you around their spellbinding universe.
Mitsuko Uchida's representation of this unlimited universe is always sensitive, and critically performed. She has humour, sometimes this may be too controlled, and she has a wizadry over a unique tonal spectrum.
This is one of those cd's in which you are swept away by music of the most sublime and infernal passion. One is aware of a seamless traversal of a mysterious and great musical legacy.
These pieces definitely have an interesting relationship with the listener. One thinks that they understand them, until again one hears a chord, or nuance not usually absorbed and once more one has to explore this magical universe.
They evolve therefore, in the mind, like opinions, and metamorphose during reflection after listening.

It would be wonderful if the listener could experience the same experience I have with this cd, it is well worth buying!

As I struggle to learn these amazing pieces, I listen with awe as Uchida deftly performs these daunting etudes. Courageous, nimble, beautifully formed...Worth hearing over and over again. Even with music in hand I find myself saying, "how did she do that?" I do wish there was less resonance in the CD. Almost too rich....

Debussy`s etudes are landmarks between impressionism and serialism. Oddly enough, in Uchidàs hands technique becomes simply granted and one is easily compelled to loose oneself in all the clarity of the interpretation. Of course, visrtuosity is there in every note - but Uchida is far too personal for a mere academic interpretation. However keeping a safe distance from extrovert sentimentality, spirit is always far greater than matter in these amazing flights of imagination.

Uchida performs this work, and speaks at length about Debussy's profound interest in free harmonic composition: Frei Music; on a video version of this Phillips release. The best gift I can think of for piano music afficianados.

Quite simply-if you enjoy listening to the piano, this is a recording for you! Yes-if the moonlight sonata is your favourite piece and you prefer to stick to the well known classics you may not be enthralled by Debussy's late masterpiece, but the range of tone, texture, dynamics and expression in this recording is something for the connoisseur to relish

Amazingly clear sound. Her technique is just astonishing. I would just say, " BUY IT". Don't be afraid not to buy Pollini's recording on DG. This is surely better.

Mitsuko Uchida takes an unusually sensuous and sensitive approach to the 12 Etudes completed by Claude Debussy in 1915. The last few years of Debussy's life were taken up with a stylistic transition that I think was more significant than any previous shift in his aesthetic. He moved away from - without abandoning - his earlier purely impressionist style and moved in various different directions, sometimes influenced by Stravinsky (I am thinking of the ballet "Jeux" which always strikes me as having a lot in common in purely structural terms with the "Rite of Spring"), by spiritualism (the 1911 music for the "Martyrdom of St Sebastian"), some clearly avant-garde experiments (the 1915 2-piano work "En blanc et noir") and maybe most significantly, a move towards greater clarity and aesthetic "objectivity." The 12 Etudes are among these last compositions: they possess clearer textures and are more abstract than most of Debussy's other piano works.

So Uchida's more atmospheric interpretation emphasizes textural beauty and allows for more flexibility in tempo than I hear in other recordings, one that emphasizes the continuity in Debussy's work rather than a new direction. It is a coherent and thoughtful approach that leads to terrific results, particularly so in the last 3 etudes, which are beautifully evocative. If you contrast Uchida's recording with more structurally-inclined ones, you see that what she gains and what she loses. Both Maurizio Pollini and particularly Michel Beroff think about the music in a different way from Uchida. Beroff in particular is successful in highlighting the structural coherence and continuity of the music, while Uchida loses herself in the moment. Both approaches, when does as well as these performances, have merits and both are worth hearing.

Obviously, I very much enjoyed this disc and think it is maybe the best recording by Uchida I have heard. I will caution less experienced listeners that the Etudes are pretty difficult music. If you are unfamiliar with Debussy's piano music, I recommend the Estampes and both books of Images (Paul Jacobs has a beautiful disc of these pieces but there are many good ones). If you are a deep classical or Debussy fan, you will want to hear this Uchida release.