Claude Debussy: Préludes

Claude Debussy (Artist), Krystian Zimerman (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 22, 1994)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000001GGL
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #85,868 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning!, December 3, 1999

By A Customer

Not a lot of people know that Debussy had a reputation for being a "barbaric" pianist during his conservatory days. What a contrast to the hazy impressionist we usually like to see him (and play him) as. And now here we have Zimerman strongly characterizing each prelude with an almost "barbaric" force (or should I say "vividness"?) when called for. One could almost say that he overcharacterizes, but that is a good fault! For once, these preludes are not overpedalled -- thus clarifying many textures (such as the opening of "Fireworks"). My only reservation is the fact that Zimerman does not take into account the idosyncratic meter/tempo changes in "The Sunken Cathedral." What a pity -- this set would've been perfect otherwise. But I certainly don't care. I'll play "The Sunken Catheral" to myself, but for the rest, Zimerman is just incomparable. This is a prime example of virtuosity serving the music, and not the other way around.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More art than artistry, August 22, 2002

By A Customer

There are very few "pure piano" CDs that I feel as strongly about as this one. Zimermann brings out the colors and variations of this instrument like hardly anybody else. This is a spacy, at times exotic recording, painting a picture of post romantic modern romanticism like no one else before or since. Forget Pollini, forget Perahia, forget Argerich, forget Bronfman; all great artists in their own, don't get me wrong; and take this one and see the clarity and the transparency, the punctuation and the timbres, of, say, the "Danceuses de Delphes" or "Le Vent dans la Pleine", and enjoy and dream and breathe...

More art than artistry, exactly how I feel a Debussy should be. No haste, only the music itself! It's not a showpiece in terms of virtuosity, but like "La Mer", it has a life on its own and Zimermann lets it shine as such!

Exceptional.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great recording, but there's an even better one, October 31, 2005

By	Edwin J. Firmage (SLC, UT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Everything Zimerman does is worth a hearing and is better by a ways than most of what's out there. His Chopin is especially good. But in the case of Debussy (and Chopin too, for that matter--see my reviews of Moravec's recordings), there's something better. The best recordings of Debussy around are those of Zoltan Kocsis, of which there are three (in order of their appearance): Suite Bergamesque*Pour le piano*Estampes*Images (oubliees) on Philips 412 118-2 released when Kocsis was just a babe in arms but what a babe!; Images*Arabesques*L'isle joyeuse on Philips 422 404-2; Preludes*Children's Corner Suite on Philips 456 568-2 a two-disc set. These are absolutely brilliant recordings, flawlessly performed and recorded. Sadly, they're not listed on Amazon, so do your local record store a favor and get them there.