Customer Reviews

Van Cliburn - My Favorite Debussy

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This beautiful and transporting CD is a "rainy day" favorite of mine. Van Cliburn has created a gorgeous, shimmering watercolor for his listeners' ears. In May of 1998, I heard Maestro Cliburn play many of these works in recital. The two hour recital was sold out and I don't recall hearing a single cough, a rustle of paper or squeak of a chair - we were all completely riveted, completely absorbed in the mood and the music. Maestro Cliburn's gossamer arpeggios in "Reflets dan l'eau" are so liquid, so seamless, one envisions water rippling on a stream; and his sensitive and melancholy "Girl with the Flaxen Hair" is the most beautiful and heart-felt interpretation of this piece that I have heard. Mr. Cliburn makes these pieces look absolutely effortless, yet they are among the most difficult in piano repertoire. I look upon each of these tracks as a mini-masterpiece. No one plays the Impressionists with the sensitivity, the poetry of Van Cliburn. Although the overall mood is one of melancholy, Cliburn never lets the music become too sweet. In fact, just as Maestro Cliburn's beautiful music lulls one into a sleepy reverie, his powerful and spine-chilling keyboard run in Debussy's "Fireworks" catapults one right of it - a playful "Gotcha!" from one of the truly Great Pianists.

When one thinks of Van Cliburn one usually thinks of the power of Rachmaninoff or Tchaikovsky. Fortunately, this beautifully remasterd collection of impressionistic pieces from Debussy and Ravel done in the 1970's gives us a look at a different side of his virtuosity. The power is there but tempered in a beautiful way. The dynamics are more sensitive than I have heard before and so I'm hearing new views of this music. I purchased this out of curiosity, and the music is not my favorite, but it is wonderfully executed and not cloying as these pieces are sometimes played. I would highly recommend this recording.

As a lover of Debussy's music, I've had a hard time finding recordings that I liked, or that I thought did justice to his work. This album, for me, stands above the rest. Mr. Cliburn gives the best performance of "Clair de Lune" I've ever heard (which is the piece most people will recognize). Others that stood out for me were "Reverie" and "Reflections In the Water." This is a first-class album. It sounds wonderful, with breathtaking performances by a true virtuosic genius.

Our local NPR station plays almost nothing during the day except classical music...and, as a consequence, I never listen to our local NPR station during the day (at 9 pm, the jazz programs starts and then I tune in). I don't like the vast majority of classicial music. But for me, Debussy almost as much jazz as classical, a musical Picasso of sorts and I've owned a copy of Van Cliburn's My Favorite Debussy in one form or another for many years.

Van Cliburn's playing is superb! Debussy's music is full of awkward rhythms played on a wide range on the piano. Van Cliburn plays all of the pieces on this CD with incredible accuracy and artistic expression.

I feel that Debussy's music requires a very sensitive and free (lots of "rubato") approach that I do not find in Van Cliburn's performances. Unfortunately, I rarely hear a Debussy performance that really sounds "Impressionistic," so perhaps I am expecting too much. But, I can listen to this entire CD and feel that I have not yet heard a single note of Debussy. It is not mysterious, sensitive, and evocative enough for my taste.