Customer Reviews

Debussy: The Complete Piano Music

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
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Do not let the dismissive review below make you dismiss this amazing and breath taking complete set. Like his Scriabin recordings, Gordon Fergus-Thompson works wonder with the well known piece like Clair de Lune, Arabesque and Reverie, and breathes new life into the music by his keen sense of tonal colours and delicacy. When it comes to impressionist music, no pianists can match Richter, who played Clair de Lune, Pavane or miroirs like a miracle, but Fergus-Thompson creats his own unique soundscape.

He is one of very few pianists alive who pay careful attention to how a note produced on the instrument decays and merges with other notes, while most of pianist nowadays focus mostly on starting point of the sound. That's a secret of the richness of colours and expression in his pianism.

He is often criticised for lack of technical prowess, compared to past masters like Gieseking or Michelangeli, but I can not detect even a hint of technical weakness or instability in this set. This is simply a different and highly personal interpretation, and it is a shame to miss out this magical music making simply because it is different from the mainstream interpretation.

These recordings are some of the highest quality Debussy you'll find. There is a freedom that comes across in Fergus-Thompson's playing that you won't find in other so-called great recordings. Instead of trying to sound "Debussy-like", the music is played naturally while maintaining accuracy and original intent of the composer. Recording quality is up to date. Box set is 4 discs, with the body nicely separated into larger works with dates included.

Gordon Fergus-Thompson does an amazing job of playing and interpreting Debussy's music. I have been playing piano for years--especially Debussy--and this CD really captures the essence of the music. I'd recommend this to anyone.

I thought I'd never find someone to equal Paul Jacob's recordings of Debussy both for their intensely poetic nature and sheer abundance of technique. Well, now I have. It is actually quite invigorating to hear Fergus-Thompson relax on the myriad arpeggios punctuating Debussy's work--the famous pseudo-arpeggio in thirds which opens Clair de Lune is absolutely other-worldly--while any questions regarding technique ought surely to be put to rest after listening to a few bars of any of the Etudes. Indeed, to bring out the poetic nature of these incredibly complex and difficult works has perhaps never been equalled by anyone else but Jacobs...

Gordon Fergus-Thompson is not a name you would instinctively turn to for stellar performances of Debussy, but he puts Gieseking, Benedetti-Michelangeli & Jacobs in the shade with these remarkably well-judged performances. I've got boatloads of Debussy recordings (at least a dozen Clair de lunes and a half-dozen performances of each book of the Preludes) but these are the ones I return to again and again. The piano sound is wonderfully atmospheric and balanced.

Debussy is second only to chopin. His music is uplifting, his gift to us was truly inspired. I love everything he did.

Product arrived intact and within agreed time span. The artist is a somewhat gifted interpreter of Debussy. He slows Claire de Lune down to a crawl because he wants to savor it and make it last forever. I dig that.