Debussy - Estampes, Images, Préludes + Presentation (recording of the Century : Claudio Arrau)

In the twentieth century, the role that the piano should play in music has been a concern for many composers. The way in which this instrument had been used by the great Romantic composers was a cause for reflection and an attempt was made to re-evaluate its possibilities. Claude Debussy was the first artist to seek to renew piano writing. His 'Préludes' and 'Images', for example, are full of strikingly beautiful effects: he made very subtle use of the pedal to drown out the sounds of chords and exploited the phenomenon of sympathetic resonances, in which the vibrations of a held chord combine with other notes to form unusual sonorities. He also treated the chords as sounds in themselves rather than as part of a harmonic ensemble. The innovations introduced by Debussy led other composers to try new experiments. Durand, the music publisher, once remarked that when Debussy played, people forgot that the piano had hammers... Claudio Arrau paints an epic fresco of Debussy's music. The piano becomes a master's canvas that he paints with great meticulousness. Each melody, each chord, each note expressed by the pianist is a fairy-tale universe that unfolds, encircles and penetrates us. At 80 years old, Arrau is here at the top of his art, the art of touch, the art of making us forget the hammers.. This gravity, this slowness which, beyond the fleeting images, seems to seek a communication with what is most mysterious, deepest, darkest in the debussist universe, all this imposes a new angle of listening. We cannot resist this twilight vision. END

Channel: Classical Music/ /Reference Recording

Views: 273,185

Keywords: claude debussy, debussy, claudio arrau, arrau, estampes, images, preludes, image, estampe, book 1, book 2, complete, piano, works, La Fille au Cheuveux de Lin, La Cathédrale Engloutie, Pagodes, Reflets Dans L’Eau

Id: 5dFceiCR8sU

Length: 133min 59sec (8039 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 23 2017