Customer Reviews

Debussy: Préludes for Piano, Books 1 & 2

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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

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.

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.

I have to admit that after listening to other top-rated performances of Debussy's Images, Estampes, and Preludes by the likes of Michelangeli and Gieseking I just didn't enjoy the music. Even though I can appreciate the artistry of those pianists, they didn't allow Debussy to "speak to me."
Jacobs, on the other hand, has opened up Debussy to me. His playing is wonderfully poetic at the same time as being technically supreme.
If you don't enjoy other intrepretations of Debussy, I highly recommend giving Jacobs a listen. You may just fall in love.

It's a pity Paul Jacobs is no longer alive to make more brilliant recordings like this one. The performance is top-rank and even the audio quality is superb in this Nonesuch recording. Moods flit by and the album becomes richer with each listening.

If Voiles doesn't get your goat and La Danse de Puck doesn't make you chuckle a little and Canope doesn't fill you with wonder at the amazing beauty of debussy harmony then....i don't know what.

Paul Jacobs rules.