Debussy: Préludes for Piano, Books 1 & 2

Claude Debussy (Composer), Paul Jacobs (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Paul Jacobs
• Composer: Claude Debussy
• Audio CD (October 24, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B000025GMT
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,750 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Préludes (12) for piano, Book I, L. 117: No. 1, 'Danseuses de Delphes'

2. Préludes (12) for piano, Book I, L. 117: No. 2, 'Voiles'

3. Préludes (12) for piano, Book I, L. 117: No. 3, 'Le vent dans la plaine'

4. Préludes (12) for piano, Book I, L. 117: No. 4, 'Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir' (Baudelaire)

5. Préludes (12) for piano, Book I, L. 117: No. 5, 'Les collines d'Anacapri'

6. Préludes (12) for piano, Book I, L. 117: No. 6, 'Des pas sur la neige'

7. Préludes (12) for piano, Book I, L. 117: No. 7, 'Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest'

8. Préludes (12) for piano, Book I, L. 117: No. 8, 'La fille aux cheveux de lin' (Girl With the Flaxen Hair)

9. Préludes (12) for piano, Book I, L. 117: No. 9, 'La serenade interrompue'

10. Préludes (12) for piano, Book I, L. 117: No. 10, 'La cathedrale engloutie' (The Sunken Cathedral)

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Préludes (12) for piano, Book II, L. 123: No. 1, 'Brouillards'

2. Préludes (12) for piano, Book II, L. 123: No. 2, 'Feuilles mortes'

3. Préludes (12) for piano, Book II, L. 123: No. 3, 'La Puerta del Vino'

4. Préludes (12) for piano, Book II, L. 123: No. 4, 'Les fees sont d'exquises danseuses'

5. Préludes (12) for piano, Book II, L. 123: No. 5, 'Bruyeres'

6. Préludes (12) for piano, Book II, L. 123: No. 6, 'General Lavine - eccentric'

7. Préludes (12) for piano, Book II, L. 123: No. 7, 'La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune'

8. Préludes (12) for piano, Book II, L. 123: No. 8, 'Ondine'

9. Préludes (12) for piano, Book II, L. 123: No. 9, 'Hommage a S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C' (inspired by Dickens: The Posthumous Papers o

10. Préludes (12) for piano, Book II, L. 123: No. 10, 'Canope'

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great recording, great price!, December 22, 2002

By 

MurrayTheCat (upstate New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Debussy: Préludes for Piano, Books 1 & 2 (Audio CD)

Debussy resides in my upper-most level of favorite composers and I passionately love the Preludes. Jacobs plays them magnificently with all the dream-like impressionism one could ask for. The piano is beautifully recorded with perfect ambiance--not too close, not too distant. These performances are slow enough to really embrace the music and produce quite a magical atmosphere. Jacobs doesn't languish, but dwells in the mood. He uses delicate colors where needed and he brings forth the bold stuff where he should. `La Cathedrale Engloutie' is one of my favorites and Jacobs floors me with it. What variety of tone he gets from the piano! I've never heard it better (and that includes the enthralling Zimerman). Thiollier (Naxos) makes `Voiles' more delicious than anyone else, and rivals Jacobs in many of these. But all in all, Jacobs stands up to any competition.

It's not easy to choose just one set of Debussy's pastel-tinted Preludes. I own three sets: this Jacobs, Thiollier and Arrau (Philips). Plus, I'm thinking of adding the Michelangeli (DG), which I once owned on LP years ago. I also owned the Zimerman (DG) but couldn't deal with the extreme gain-riding gimmickry. (Never in my life have I heard a piano anywhere--in any room or hall--perform the irritating sonic gymnastics purported by that recording. What a shame, because Zimerman's performances are grand.) Thiollier's Debussy is top-self. Gieseking (EMI), from the 50s, is still around and still sounds very good. But if I had to live with just one set of these intoxicating pieces, it would be the Jacobs. And the two-for-one price makes this set very attractive.
Cheers,
Murray

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent performance, January 26, 2003

By 

Davey Jay "Davey" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Debussy: Préludes for Piano, Books 1 & 2 (Audio CD)

His rendition of the Preludes does justice to the mysterious and nebulous quality of Debussy's impressionism, yet his playing is still clear and technically brilliant. Highly recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars C'est Magnifique, April 14, 2010

By 

Paul S. Rottenberg "stevenrothbardt" (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Debussy: Préludes for Piano, Books 1 & 2 (Audio CD)

This is, without doubt, one of the finest piano recordings ever made. It deserves a special award for Paul Jacobs' magnificent playing on a fabulous Bosendorfer Imperial grand piano and for the excellence of the warm, spacious, brilliant recorded sound. As they say, this release exhausts superlatives. Jacobs' performances are justly esteemed for their insights into this color-drenched, sybaritic music; he judges each timbre and each accent magically, putting his playing beyond almost all of the others (Gieserking, Zimmerman, et al.). Just listen to "Footprints in the Snow," "On the terrace of Moonlight," "La puerto del vino," "The Fairies Dance Exquisitely," and "Fireworks," etc., etc. for an example of transcendental pianism. Exquisite, indeed. Lovely! And virtuosic, as in the last Prelude of Book 2, "Fireworks." If you don't own this release, you'd better snap up your copy before you're reduced to having to burn a scatchy library copy.