Customer Reviews

Debussy: Preludes for Piano Books I & II

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a young boy, I heard only Walter Gieseking's old mono recordings of the Debussy Preludes, over and over again. They are ethereal, delicate, and beautiful, more so than any mono recording usually sounds. They have also been considered to be the definitive performance of the Preludes, and I loved them.

Then Paul Jacobs came along. His recordings of the Preludes, made in 1978, not only had fantastic sound quality, but Paul's style did Debussy justice where Gieseking's never could, and this listener realized, with astonishment, at how many voices a piano can have. Not every Prelude is a whisper, and although Paul's fingers could make the piano tiptoe through "Danseuses de Delphes," he could make it jump and leap in "Les Collines d'Anacapri." His precision of phrasing and the restraint in his use of dynamics makes the eruption of "Le Vent dans la plaine" startling. And Jacobs makes it sound so easy.

As a writer for Fanfare put it: "I would advise all piano collectors to lose no time in acquiring this marvelous set. If you haven't room, chuck out whatever (now forever obsolete, superseded, palpably inferior) recorded performances you may be giving shelf space."

The hype you have read here and elsewhere about Jacobs's Preludes isn't hype. The five stars I give this CD set is not given lightly. These recordings are really that good. In fact I would, and may someday, crawl over broken glass to retrieve my 2CD set of Paul Jacobs's recordings of the Debussy Preludes, livres 1 et 2.

Out of the dozens of recordings of Debussy's Preludes available, this one will probably remain my favorite for life. Mr. Jacobs's sensitivity and skill are staggering and the Steinway sounds just superb. When I think of Debussy I think of THIS recording.

If my music collection were to go up in flames I'd dive in to save this one.

After being extremely disappointed with the Michelangeli recordings I bought of these pieces, I bought the Paul Jacobs' performances.
Jacobs is a poetical pianist, not strictly literal, rather someone who searches for halo
and echo, shine and gloom, adrenaline rush and repose, someone to whom a single note is able to convey musical meaning.
Fellow musicans can learn from him.

I can only second the concerted praise for Paul Jacobs' Debussy Preludes. His style is at the opposite extreme from Michelangeli's impersonal, chilly perfection, but it's also distant from Gieseking's brilliant, glittering impressionism. Jacobs emphsizes te melodic possibilities of each Prelude, finding a warm, lyrical line even in the most puzzling and emotionally noncommittal ones. This kind of naturalness is quite rare among Debussy recordings, in my experience. The recorded sound is detailed an very close up, the only flaw being occasional wolliness in the lowest bass notes.

For those who don't know about Jacobs, there's a good Wikipedia entry, which reminds us that he was the NY Phil.'s official pianist from 1961 until his death from AIDS in 1983 at the age of 53. It was his unfortunate distinction to be among the most important musicians -- as well as one of the earliest -- to die of the disease. Jacobs was a passionate advocate of contemporary music and had a long association with Elliott Carter, as well as Boulez, George Crumb, Aaron Copland, indeed almost every important modern composer for the piano. He was the Philharmonic's official harpsichordist, moreover, and played Handel and Bach in recital. In many ways he remains an unsung and very brilliant talent, as these Debussy Preludes evidence. They can go up against accounts by much more famous virtuosos and surpass them for variety, humor, and human warmth.

This was the first collection of Debussy's Preludes I ever owned and I have yet to hear another that surpasses it. While I have not heard EVERY version of the Preludes out there, I have heard most, and though there are recordings of individual Preludes that are superior (I prefer a more sentimental view of "La fille aux cheveux de lin") this is far and away the greatest single set available. There are many good ones out there, but without Jacobs' Preludes your Debussy collection is incomplete. Only Gieseking's is in the same league, and that one has inferior sound--even for the 1950's--and controversial tempos. In Jacobs' hands fairies will dance on spider webs trembling with dew-drops, the bells of sunken cathedrals will toll out from beneath the waves, and autumn leaves will fall from tree limbs with a pathos that will bring the fairies' dancing to a fearful halt--and all within the glow of a mesmerizing moon. This should not be the only set of Debussy's Preludes in your collection, but it must be there.

This is a "desert island disc" for me. This is as good or better than Walter Gieseking's or Krystian Zimerman's recordings of these pieces. If you don't own, buy this immediately. Paul Jacobs died too young, but his spirit lives on gloriously in this profound recording. Amen.