Customer Reviews

Debussy: 12 Etudes

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Debussy attached no picturesque captions to his etudes. Each of the 12 has only a functional description from him - thirds, octaves, repeated notes and so forth. Even the phrases he attached to his preludes (at the end of each piece, be it remembered, not as titles) don't seem to me to define the pieces (except for the one called `alternate thirds'). Debussy's piano music always sounds to me to be largely abstract in inspiration, and when it comes to his last set of pieces, the 12 etudes, he is not even pretending otherwise. To my ears, this is the greatest of his piano music, and it will stand with the greatest of anyone's.

It is also the most difficult to play, purely at the technical level. When the works are avowedly `studies' what would you expect? I once took encouragement from a remark in Arthur Hedley's book on Chopin to the effect that there is no difficulty in Chopin's other work that is not prepared for in the studies. Only after I bought the studies did I realise that this really meant that if you could play those you could play anything else. What is Brahms's most difficult work for piano solo? Most competent pianists will tell you `The Paganini Variations', subtitled, of course, `studies'. So too with Debussy, and this view colours my idea of how these works should be played. They will not sound as if they stretch a player with enough technique, but they ought to be made to sound daunting for most of us, and that convinces me that Uchida's interpretation is the right one in all essentials. She takes a highlighted approach, with the more spectacular effects played up. I find her tempi to be reasonable implementations of the composer's markings, which are clear enough except in the second study - what in all the world is `moderato, ma non troppo'? Uchida takes a fastish speed, and so would I have if I could play the piece. Where the prescribed speed is slow without qualification, as in the `sixths' piece, that is how she does it, and I find her memorable in the great `pour les Agrements', expressing fine solemnity as it ends.

Uchida's tone-colouring is vivid without being overdone for my own taste, and the compass of her volume is surely about right for music of this period and of this style -- not as in Rachmaninov but with a good strong tone when the composer asks for that, and also the faint and remote pianissimo that is so central to Debussy's expression. Whatever one thinks about her fast speeds here and there, she does not set any records for high coloration in the tone. We have all long been used to the way Michelangeli handles the first book of the preludes, and Uchida is not trying to emulate that.

Comparisons might be more important if these great compositions were better known than they seem to be. I can't account for their neglect except to admit that I have been guilty of ignoring them too. When a range of top-flight interpretations, such as we are accustomed to throughout the major piano repertory, is available that will be the time to take a microscope to Uchida's version and give fine and minute weighting to the details. For the time being I shall just say that I consider this a major set of renderings, one that is likely to stand comparison with anything else that may be coming along. The sound dates originally from 1990, and it does not interfere with my appreciation of the subtlety of touch that matters almost more in Debussy than in any other composer for the piano. The English liner-note is by the ever-dependable Misha Donat, and I have not bothered to read the French offering or its translation into German. Donat predictably shows insight into this marvellous music, Uchida shows the same where it matters more, I shall work to catch up with them as best I can and I urge everyone else to do likewise.

The Douze Etudes pour piano of Claude Debussy are late works, dating to 1915, and were written following a commission by his publisher, Jacques Durand, to prepare an edition of Chopin's piano works. The Etudes are studies of composition as well as keyboard technique, and influenced many composers like Schoenberg, Messien and Boulez in their piano compositions.

Debussy's Etudes do not have the appeal of his other piano music but they are more than just exercises too. The Etudes are a technical challenge for the performer but have little appeal for an audience. I have had this recording of Debussy's Etudes by Mitsuko Uchida since they were issued in 1990, so it is nice to see the recordings have been reissued.

Ms. Uchida is able to bring off the Etudes with a lot of conviction that give the pieces great appeal. Her virtuosity is quite amazing as she captures every nuance of the music. My favorite pieces are the 11th and 12th Etudes, the first so beautifully dream-like that one could believe that the music would just evaporate into the air; and the bold 12th Etude with its shattering chords; the 10th study reminds me of a nocturne. All of the studies are brilliantly played with each going from strength to strength of technical virtuosity.

The only "problem" with this disc is that at 47 minutes it is far too short. One wonders why Ms. Uchida did not record some additional music of Debussy or some other composer that was influenced by the Etudes. Still, this is a performance to savor and demands to be heard.

This was the first Debussy piano piece I truly fell in love with, the Etudes for Piano, along with his second book of Preludes. I had a good laugh, because I myself was on a strict regiment of Czerny etudes and was kind of sick of them when I heard this piece. Debussy seems to have taken in some of Stravinsky's use of rhythm as a unifying structure, while maintaining his characteristically disturbing and exquisite beauty. Mitsuko Uchida perfectly captures every nuance of the piece, in an atmospheric and exciting recording unmatched by even Paul Jacobs.

I only discovered Mitsuko Uchida a few months ago, but in that time I have either previewed or purchased every recording she has ever released and still available on Amazon. I first heard one of these Debussy performances on Perspectives: Mitsuko Uchida.

This recording is one of the most highly engaging set of Debussy performances I've ever heard. I own Debussy's complete piano works recordings on Naxos and Nimbus. As charming as those performances are, they don't capture the full dynamic and emotional range that Uchida puts into these performances. Her Debussy varies from quiet, sensitive delicacy to absolute shock and awe. Without ever losing an slight air of impressionism and reserve. The effect, in my opinion, is fresh and exhilarating. Every track is like it's own painting, bursting with colors. I remember gazing at Monet and Degas reproductions as a child, and getting lost in the paintings. Water lilies, ballerinas, canoes on the Seine. Uchida performing Debussy compliments the experience perfectly.

Highly recommend, but don't listen to this while driving. Intoxicating.

These are some of the most lovely Debussy solo piano pieces. Listening to them is like taking a stroll through a most exquisite exhibition of French impressionism paintings. Except that you are not alone. You are with Uchida. A master who makes Debussy's music leap off the keyboard with such vibrancy that every single note sings. For the cost of a lunch, get this album for its music, for its performance, and for the out of this world sound quality that defines probably the very best of modern piano recording on CD. While you are at it, explore Uchida's other recordings on Philips - from Mozart to Schubert. And indulge yourself in that heavenly romanticism so rare in our leave nothing to imagination pop culture today :-)

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.

There are not many CDs that have all 12 Debussy piano etudes. (At this time it seems this is the only CD of them on the market.) This particular recording from the early 1990s gives the listener a chance to dwell on these seemingly overly cerebral works. They are not easy to master in your mind, nor to remember between listenenings because of the inherent musical distance built into them by Debussy. This very facile pianist gives her all, and her interpretations are about as fair a rendering as one is likely to hear. Going over the score of each, I have the slightest suspicion that more sensitive interpretations are possible, but they would not wow the many fans of towering piano technique such as this performer has in abundance.

The interpretation here is NOT Western.
It is very Japanese - the very essence of the Japanese Shintoism. If you are familiar with classic Japanese music, you'd at once recognise this. It is eerie, it is mysterious, it is very abstract to Western ears, but no secret to a pair of eastern ears like mine.
To what extent is such the intention of Debussy, I am left to wonder.
However, if you consider that this is an acceptable approach, this is still a very decent performance.
I personally would opt for other more convincing Western intepretations.