Debussy: Études; Suite bergamasque

Claude Debussy (Composer), Garrick Ohlsson (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Garrick Ohlsson
• Composer: Claude Debussy
• Audio CD (October 26, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Arabesque Recordings
• ASIN: B000000T7B
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #193,578 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #10 in

  Music > Classical > Featured Performers, A-Z > ( O ) > Ohlsson, Garrick

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Debussy's Etudes were his last works for the piano. Moving away from the pictorial imagery that characterized most of his earlier piano music, Debussy began to compose more abstract pieces based on technical and intellectual problems. These pieces aren't as immediately appealing as his earlier piano works, and it takes a pianist like Garrick Ohlsson to make them palatable. He plays with virtuosity, intellectual rigor, and pianistic color that make this music fascinating, even if never moving. Only Mitsuko Uchida (Philips 422 412-2) has given a comparably interesting performance on CD, and Ohlsson has the bonus of the well-played and popular Suite Bergamasque to tip the balance in his favor. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DEBUSSY DELIVERED, March 26, 2003

By	Melvyn M. Sobel (Freeport (Long Island), New York) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Ohlsson's artistry never ceases to amaze. Whether romancing Chopin, finessing Carl Maria von Weber or re-orienting the classicism of Haydn, this exceptional pianist is always revealing something new in the music, with a tenacity of concept and vision that rarely fails him.

This recital of Debussy is no different. Frankly, it is stunning. And, in the typical Ohlsson manner, appealingly wayward. The Etudes, the most demanding of works, and requiring the utmost in both sensitivity and panache, seem never to have sounded as "impressionistic" as they do here, nor, simultaneously, as defined. In any other pianist's hands, this feat would merely be the paradox it appears; however, for Ohlsson, it is the music's natural state. Such elucidation brings these final compositions of Debussy into daring focus, while still keeping the myriad colors of his palette awash with awesome originality.

Most controversial, and almost heretically slow, is the pianist's conception of the Suite Bergamasque. But, again, Ohlsson does not fail to convince. In a work that could easily unravel, quite the opposite occurs: it coalesces into an emotional tour de force that simply rivets. Even the all too familiar "Clair de lune," so frequently maimed, here becomes a revelation. At nearly seven minutes, the artist transforms it into one of the most moving piano statements Debussy ever uttered. So unique and magical is Ohlsson that the Suite, alone, makes this recording worth having. Thought-provoking interpretations in every way, with sound as exemplary as it is warm and realistic.

[Running time: 70:29]

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Technically brilliant and emotionally moving., January 27, 1999

By	[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

These works are so beautifully played you forget that they are etudes. Ohlsson's technique is so secure that he treats them as music first (instead of just etudes),and the technique is there to back him up. Some of them just float and others have a rhythmic and dynamic definition that drives home the spirit and musical meaning of each one. They are far superior to Pollini's, which suprised me - he seems lost in them. As a pianist myself, who knows how fiendish these etudes are, I'm amazed that Ohlsson can play them with such polish.