1. Danseuses De Delphes: Lent Et Grave
2. Voiles: Modere
3. Le Vent Dans La Plaine: Anime
4. 'Les Sons Et Les Parfums Tournent Dans L'Air Du Soir': Modere
5. Les Collines D'Anacapri: Tres Modere
6. Des Pas Sur La Neige: Triste Et Lent
7. Ce Qu'a Vu Le Vent D'Ouest: Anime Et Tumultueux
8. La Fille Aux Cheveux De Lin: Tres Calme Et Doucement Expressif
9. La Serenade Interrompue: Moderement Anime
10. La Cathedrale Engloutie: Profondement Calme
11. La Danse De Puck: Capricieux Et Leger
12. Minstrels: Modere
13. Brouillards: Modere
14. Feuilles Mortes: Lent Et Melancolique
15. La Puerta Del Vino: Mouvement De Habanera
16. Les Fees Sont D'Exquises Danseuses: Rapide Et Leger
17. Bruyeres: Calme
18. 'General Lavine'-Excentric: Dans Le Style Et Le Mouvement D'un Cake-Walk
19. La Terrasse Des Audiences Du Clair De Lune: Lent
20. Ondine: Scherzando
21. Hommage A S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C.: Grave
22. Canope: Tres Calme Et Doucement Triste
23. Les Tierces Alternees: Moderement Anime
24. Feux D'Artifice: Moderement Anime

Steven Osborne – piano

To publish twenty-four pieces called Préludes inevitably provokes comparisons with Chopin; Debussy, like all right-thinking people, certainly adored Chopin’s music, and in 1915 dedicated his Études to the Polish composer’s memory. But the fact that each of Debussy’s Préludes has a title, albeit inscribed at the end rather than the beginning, brings them perhaps nearer to the genre pieces of Schumann and Grieg, for both of whom Debussy also had a soft spot.

Steven Osborne has already made a name for himself in French music with a disc of Alkan and a profoundly moving performance of Messiaen’s Vingt Regards. Here he reaches between those two to tackle one of the pinnacles of the piano repertoire—Debussy’s two books of Préludes. These works have been central to Steven’s repertoire for many years and he brings them to the studio after many public performances and much reflection. He has worked from the most up-to-date Urtext edition which clarifies Debussy’s thought in many places, particularly with regard to tempo relationships within La cathédrale engloutie and a missing bar in Les tierces alternées. In a crowded field Osborne need fear no comparisons: the pianism is exquisite and the interpretations are of a rare depth and subtlety—a recording to rival the very best! --- Roger Nichols, hyperion-records.co.uk

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  	Premier Acte
  	Scène 1
1-1 	«Je Ne Pourrai Plus Sortir De Cette Forêt» [Golaud] 	3:10 	
1-2 	«Pourquoi Pleures-Tu?» [Golaud, Mélisande] 	6:21 	
1-3 	«Je Suis Perdu Aussi» [Golaud] 	3:11 	
  	Scène 2
1-4 	«Voici Ce Qu'Il A Écrit À Son Frère Pelléas» [Geneviève] 2:07 	
1-5 	«Qu'en Dites-Vous?» [Geneviève, Arkel, Pelléas] 	5:23 	
1-6 	Interlude 	1:15 	
  	Scène 3
1-7 	«Il Fait Sombre Dans Les Jardins» [Mélisande, Geneviève, Pelléas] 	2:39 	
1-8 	«Hoé! Hisse Hoé!» [Marins, Mélisande, Pelléas, Geneviève] 	3:55 	
  	Deuxième Acte
  	Scène 1
1-9 	«Vous Ne Savez Pas Où Je Vous Ai Menée?» [Pelléas, Mélisande] 3:40 	
1-10 	C'est Au Bord D'une Fontaine» [Pelléas, Mélisande] 	2:52 	
1-11 	Interlude 	3:19 	
  	Scène 2
1-12 	«Ah! Ah! Tout Va Bien» [Golaud, Mélisande] 	7:52 	
1-13 	«Voyons, Donne-Moi Ta Main» [Golaud, Mélisande] 	2:53 	
1-14 	Interlude 	2:20 	
  	Scène 3
1-15 	«Oui, C'est Ici, Nous Y Sommes» [Pelléas, Mélisande] 	4:45 	
  	Troisième Acte
  	Scène 1
1-16 	«Mes Longs Cheveux Descendent Jusqu'au Seuil De La Tour» [Mélisande, Pelléas] 6:00 	
1-17 	«Je Les Tiens Dans Les Mains» [Pelléas, Mélisande] 	4:12 	
1-18 	«Que Faites-Vous Ici?» [Golaud, Pelléas] 	3:33 	
  	Scène 2
1-19 	«Prenez Garde; Par Ici, Par Ici» [Golaud, Pelléas] 	3:04 	
  	Scène 3
2-1 	Interlude / «Ah! Je Respire Enfin!» [Pelléas, Golaud] 	4:15 	
2-2 		Interlude 	1:07 	
  	Scène 4
2-3 	«Viens, Nous Allons Nous Asseoir Ici, Yniold» [Golaud, Yniold] 	5:13 	
2-4 	«Qu'ils S'Embrassent, Petit Père?» [Yniold, Golaud] 	4:19 	
  	Quatrième Acte
  	Scène 1
2-5 	«Où Vas-Tu?» [Pelléas, Mélisande] 	2:49 	
  	Scène 2
2-6 	«Maintenant Que Le Père De Pelléas Est Sauvé» [Arkel, Mélisande] 	5:47 	
2-7 	«Pelléas Part Ce Soir» [Golaud, Arkel, Mélisande] 	2:54 	
2-8 	«Ne Mettez Pas Ainsi Votre Main À La Gorge» [Golaud, Arkel, Mélisande] 	3:25 	
2-9 	Interlude 	3:55 	
  	Scène 3
2-10 	«Oh! Cette Pierre Est Lourde» [Yniold, Un Berger] 	4:04 	
  	Scène 4
2-11 	«C'est Le Dernier Soir» [Pelléas, Mélisande] 	3:25 	
2-12 	«Nous Sommes Venus Ici Il Y A Bien Longtemps» [Mélisande, Pelléas] 	1:46 	
2-13 	«On Dirait Que Ta Voix A Passé Sur Le Mer Au Printemps» [Pelléas, Mélisande] 	3:48 	
2-14 	«Quel Est Ce Bruit?» [Pelléas, Mélisande] 	4:04 	
  	Cinquième Acte
2-15 	«Ce N'est Pas De Cette Petite Blessure Qu'elle Peut Mourir» [Le Médecin, Arkel, Golaud] 	2:54 	
2-16 	«Attention; Je Crois Qu'elle S'Éveille» [Le Médecin, Mélisande, Arkel, Golaud] 	5:18 	
2-17 	«Mélisande, As-Tu Pitié De Moi Comme J'ai Pitié De Toi?» [Golaud, Mélisande] 	2:40 	
2-18 	«Non, Non, Nous N'avons Pas Été Coupables» [Mélisande, Golaud] 	1:55 	
2-19 	«Qu'avez-Vous Fait?» [Arkel, Golaud, Mélisande] 	2:34 	
2-20 	«Qu'y A-t-il?» [Golaud, Le Médecin, Arkel] 	2:24 	
2-21 	«Attention… Attention. Il Faut Parler À Voix Basse, Maintenant» [Arkel, Le Médecin, Golaud] 	6:42

François Le Roux (Baritone), 
José Van Dam (Bass Baritone), 
Jean-Phillipe Courtis (Bass),
Christa Ludwig (Mezzo Soprano), 
Patrizia Pace (Soprano), 
Rudolf Mazzola (Bass),
Maria Ewing (Soprano)

Wiener Philharmoniker
Claudio Abbado – conductor

This is a superb issue that challenges even the finest so far. The warmth of the VPO strings in the very first bars holds out a promise that is never disappointed.

Pelleas is one of those operas fortunate enough to 'record well'—certainly there has rarely been a time when at least one good version was not available; and the work itself so moves me every time I hear it that perhaps each new version of any quality carries me away; but the arrival of this new recording, so soon after the highly praised performances by Dutoit (Decca) and Armin Jordan (Erato), and in excellent French from the whole cast, really does create something of an embarras de choix. Let there be no mistake, however: this is a superb issue that challenges even the finest so far. The warmth of the VPO strings in the very first bars holds out a promise that is never disappointed: the orchestra, always subtle but positively glowing, is responsive to every one of Debussy's dynamics and rises to the most intense of climaxes in the emotional high spots of Act 4. Abbado directs a sensitive and flexible reading, rather faster than usual in some places—impelled by the dramatic situation, he pushes ahead when Golaud flares up on hearing that Melisande has lost his ring, and in that terrible scene when little Yniold is made to spy on his stepmother.

Jose van Dam, who also sang Golaud for Karajan (EMI), is an artist who, in whatever he undertakes, leaves one reaching for superlatives: in this performance his Golaud is a character on a dangerously short fuse, heavy with menace in his first warning to Pelleas, quickly losing control with Yniold, and lashing himself into a frenzy at the ''grande innocence'' of Melisande's eyes, leading him to seize her by her long hair. Maria Ewing makes the hapless heroine less of a wimp than she is sometimes represented, and in a remarkable way nuances and colours her every word with meaning. She is tender to Golaud when he suffers a slight wound, sweet but very erotic in the Act 3 soliloquy as she combs her hair, and bursts out in suddenly awakened passion at the fatal nocturnal parting from Pelleas. Or is it so sudden? We notice that her words to him at the end of Act 1, ''Oh! Pourquoi partez-vous?'', are delivered not ingenuously, as with some interpreters of the part, but already with a vague yearning.

Pelleas is sung by a real baryton-martin, a light high baritone: Le Roux sounds young, fresh and ardent, his singing is always refined, his words are meaningful, and he conveys Pelleas's unease in the sinister scene with Golaud in the cavern. (The only slight shortcoming in the whole recording, unfortunately, is when his eventual declaration of love is almost lost under orchestral reverberation.) For some reason the casting of the aged Arkel has often been a weakness in the past: either he is not entirely accurate or he emerges as just dull. Here the voix noble and intelligence of Courtis makes of him a figure akin to wise old Gurnemanz in Parsifal, an opera much in Debussy's mind (despite his professed dislike of Wagner). Patrizia Pace makes a very credible child, and that no pains were spared in the production is suggested by the fact that no less an artist than Christa Ludwig takes the tiny part of Genevieve. Even those readers with one or other of the previous recommended recordings of the opera are urged not to miss this one. --- Lionel Salter, Gramophone [3/1992]

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CD1
1. Brouillards (Book II, No.1)
2. Ce qu’a vu le vent d’Ouest (I, 7)
3. Minstrels (I, 12)
4. Canope (II, 10)
5. Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir (I,4)
6. La Puerta del Vino (II, 3)
7. Général Lavine – excentric (II, 6)
8. Feuilles mortes (II, 2)
9. Les tierces alternées (II, 11)
10. La danse de Puck (I, 11)
11. Le vent dans la plaine (I, 3)
12. La fille aux cheveux de lin (I, 8)

CD2
1. Danseuse de Delphes (Book I, 1)
2. La sérénade interrompue (I, 9)
3. Des pas sur la neige (I, 6)
4. ‘Les fées sont d’exquises danseuses’ (II, 4)
5. Voiles (I,2 )
6. Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq., P.P.M.P.C. (II, 9)
7. La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune (II, 7)
8. Bruyères (II, 5)
9. Ondine (II, 8)
10. Les collines d’Anacapri (I, 5)
11. Feux d’artifice (II, 12)
12. La cathédrale engloutie (I, 10)

Colin Matthews
13. Postlude: Monsieur Croche

Hallé Orchestra
Colin Matthews - Arranger, Composer, Producer
Mark Elder - Conductor

Musical literalists may not be pleased with Colin Matthews' free orchestral arrangements of the 24 movements of Debussy's two books of Préludes pour le piano; this is certainly not the equivalent of Ravel's faithful orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Fans of impressionist orchestral music and some fans of the piano originals, though, may well experience a thrill, as if a lost Debussy orchestral piece had been rediscovered. Matthews has a consummate, almost uncanny understanding of Debussy's orchestrational style, and the occasional sonorities that betray the work's modern provenance clearly sound like intentional artistic decisions and not miscalculations. Debussy was a composer whose language and orchestration were always evolving, and it requires no stretch whatsoever to imagine that these orchestrations could have been his own. Listeners who know the piano preludes will be fascinated to hear the ways in which Matthews has reimagined them, sometimes even adding material, extending their length, and altering note values to make the music fit the orchestral idiom with complete naturalness. Matthews reorders the preludes, mixing the two books, opening with Brouillards, the first prelude from the second book and ending the set with a gorgeous, grand, radiant version of La cathédrale engloutie. He also adds an original postlude, titled Monsieur Croche (the composer's pen name as a music critic), which he describes as being closer to Debussy's style than he had "intended or expected." The commissioners of the arrangement, Mark Elder and the Hallé Orchestra, perform it with luminous transparency and idiomatic sensitivity to roots in Impressionism. The sound is clean, clear, and present. Highly recommended. --- Stephen Eddins, AllMusic Review

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CD1
1. Prelude - Orchestra
2. Act One, Scene One: Rien encore, mon frere
3. Act One, Scene Two: Vous enfinn! 
4. Act One, Scene Two: Mais non, je n'en crois rien 
5. Act One, Scene Two: A ta beaute ma force est asservie 
6. Act One, Scene Two: Comme la vague 
7. Act One, Scene Three: Fourbis le glaive; Hola, garcons! 
8. Act One, Scene Four: C'est l' aube 
9. Act One, Scene Five: Arretez tous! 
10. Act One, Scene Five: Qu' est ceci ? 

CD2
1. Act Two, Scene One: Prends garde au coup 
2. Act Two, Scene Two: Frere, vois donc ! 
3. Act Two, Scene Three: Quel est ce bruit 
4. Act Two, Scene Three: Que m'aptpon dit ? 
5. Act Two, Scene Four: DonDiegue ! 
6. Act Two, Scene Five: Seigneurs des monts et des prairies ! 
7. Act Two, Scene Six:: Que signifient ce bruit et ce cliquetis 
8. Act Three, Scene One: Boire aujourd'hui, tuer demain ! 
9. Act Three, Scene One: Votre roi vous salue 
10. Act Three, Scene Two: Justice, mon seigneur ! 
11. Act Three, Scene Two: O juste orgueil 
12. Act Three, Scene Three: Prions, enfant ! 
13. Act Three, Scene Four: Tu dis vrai ! 
14. Act Three, Scene Five: Eh bien ! Que min sort s' accomplisse !

Chimène - Donna Brown
Rodrigue - Laurence Dale
Inez - Hélène Jossoud
Hernan - Gilles Ragon
Bermudo - Jean-Paul Fouchécourt
Don Diègue - José van Dam
Don Gomez - Jules Bastin
Le Roi - Vincent Le Texier
Don Juan d'Arcos - Jean Louis Meunier
Don Pèdre de Terruel - Jean Delescluse

Orchestre et Choeur de L'Opéra de Lyon
Kent Nagano, 1994

Rodrigue et Chimène (English: Rodrigo and Ximena) is an unfinished opera in three acts by Claude Debussy. The French libretto, by Catulle Mendès, is based on the plays Las Mocedades del Cid by Guillén de Castro y Bellvís and Corneille's Le Cid which deal with the legend of El Cid (Rodrigue in the opera). It was first staged in a version completed by Edison Denisov in Lyon on 14 May 1993.

Synopsis

    Time: 11th century
    Place: Spain

Act 1

Rodrigue, son of Don Diègue of Bivar, is engaged to marry Chimène, daughter of Don Gomez of Gormaz. They meet for a tryst just before dawn outside Don Gomez's house. They are interrupted by the arrival of the men of Gomez, singing a drinking song. The young women of Bivar also appear and the men of Gomez try to carry them off. They are stopped by an outraged Don Diègue. A quarrel breaks out between Don Diègue and Don Gomez, who objects to Diègue striking his servants. The two draw their swords but Don Diègue proves too old and weak to fight.

Act 2

Rodrigue and his brothers are playing chess when they see an old beggar on the highway and offer him help. The "beggar" is Don Diègue and he demands, not alms, but the head of Don Gomez. He asks Rodrigue to avenge the slight on his honour by killing Chimène's father. Rodrigue reluctantly accepts the commission. Rodrigue challenges Don Gomez to a duel and fatally wounds him. Don Gomez dies in Chimène's arms, having told her the killer was her beloved.

Act 3

King Ferdinand assembles his army for a campaign against the Moors. He notices that Don Gomez is missing from the ranks of his warriors. Chimène steps forward and begs for justice for her dead father, but Don Diègue pleads equally passionately for the life of the son who has restored his honour. The king sends for Rodrigue. Chimène confesses to her maidservant Iňez that she still loves him, but family honour demands he should die. The grief-stricken Rodrigue tells Chimène she should kill him with the selfsame sword that slew her father. She is unable to strike him, but unable to forgive him. He asks one of the king's soldiers to kill him instead. Don Diègue tells Rodrigue he must live so he can fight and defeat the Moors. Rodrigue reluctantly agrees, hoping to be killed in battle.

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1. Anime et tres decide
2. Assez vif et bien rythme
3. Andantino, doucement expressif
4. Tres modere - En animant peu a peu - Tres mouvemente et avec passion

Emerson String Quartet

In 1893, Debussy composed his first important work, the String Quartet in g minor, Op. 10. It was the only work to which he attached an opus number or a key designation and it was the only work Debussy wrote in a conventional form. Outwardly, the quartet assumes the mold of a traditional string quartet comprising four movements: a first movement sonata, a rhythmic scherzo, a slow, lyrical movement and an energetic finale. But within this unremarkable template, the music sounds completely new. Debussy expanded the sound of the string quartet with a variety of novel textures and tonal effects ranging from delicate subtlety to ravishing grandeur. With exotic scales, unconventional chords, progressions and key changes, the music features melodies and harmonies unique for their time. Especially striking is the quartet’s rhythmic vitality, spontaneous agility and poetic subtlety. With swiftly changing tempi, a wealth of dazzling figurations, cross-rhythms and the special shimmering or hovering pulsations typical of his music, Debussy captures a nuanced experience of time. With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to see many elements of Debussy’s signature style within this early work: the sensuous languor of l’après-midi d’un faune, the kinetic energy of La Mer, the spice and color of his Iberian Images.

Debussy’s quartet is equally fascinating for its cyclic design. César Franck based several of his compositions on a cyclic principle where a signature musical theme recurs in every movement. Earlier, Hector Berlioz featured his idée fixe, a signal leitmotif in every movement of the Symphonie fantastique. Debussy applied the same concept: the opening theme of his quartet recurs in all four movements. But unlike earlier designs where the theme appears, essentially unchanged, within each movement as an isolated, nearly extraneous element, Debussy uses his theme to generate the majority of the quartet’s intrinsic music. Using ingenious transformations of melody, harmony, texture and rhythm, Debussy creates a diversity of music that clearly derives from the initial theme. The first and second movements together contain at least seven variations. The last movement supplies its own new variations as well as a cyclic reprisal of the previous movements in reverse order, leading the quartet right back to the beginning. That such an apparently rigid thematic unity is unobtrusively disguised within a rich variety of music is testament to Debussy’s fertile imagination and his remarkable skill as a composer.

Initial reactions to his quartet ranged from praise, to bewilderment and scorn including such wonderfully revealing sneers as “orgies of modulation” and “rotten with talent”. Debussy shortly set to work on another quartet, but abandoned the project, turning instead to the orchestra, a more potent vehicle for his visionary music. Debussy wrote very little additional chamber music, returning to the genre only at the end of his life to complete three of six planned sonatas. It is amazing to consider the many first rate composers who labored over numerous string quartets, destroyed early works or cautiously approached the genre for the first time as mature artists, while Debussy, merely thirty-one, wrote a single quartet, a brilliant work of stunning originality, now a masterwork secure in the chamber music repertory. --- earsense.org

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La Chute de la Maison Usher
after the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher"

1    Prélude    1:14

Scène 1
2	Dans la plus verte...  Lady Madeline 	2:49
3	Qui êtes-vous?...  Le Médecin, L’ami	1:56
4	Cet homme est le dernier...  Le Médecin, L’ami 1:50
5	Et sa soeur...  L’ami, Le Médecin  2:52
6	Ah! Pourquoi ne veut elle pas...  Le Médecin, L’ami   0:36

Scène 2
7	Madeline...  Roderick   2:37
8	Vieilles pierres...  Roderick   3:32
9	Ah! J’ai soif de vivre...  Roderick   2:34
10	Serait-ce toi...  Roderick	2:46
11	Ne vous effrayez pas...  Le Médecin, L’ami, Roderick   1:44
12	Des flambeaux...  Roderick, L‘ami 3:19
13	Voyons, Roderick...  L’ami, Roderick	2:14
14	Les vieilles pierres étincelaient...  Roderick, L‘ami	4:13
15	Roderick! Roderick!...  L’ami, Roderick, Le Médecin 5:05
16	Laissez-moi vous donner un conseil...  Le Médecin, L’ami    1:39
17	Dans la plus verte de nos vallées...  Roderick, L‘ami     2:42
18	Je sais qu’elle est trop frêle...  Roderick, L‘ami	1:17
19	Tenez, j’ai trouvé cet antique...  Roderick, L‘ami   2:02
20	Mais craignant la tempête...  L’ami, Roderick	1:35
21	Vous n’entendez pas?...  Roderick	1:21
22	La voyez-vous?...  Roderick	1:47


Le Diable dans le Beffroi
after the short story "The Devil in the Belfry"

Premier Tableau
1	Prélude    0:41
2	Ahem!...  Bourgmestre	1:19
3	Savez-vous planter...  Les Enfants	1:18
4	Valse des tulipes	0:51
5	Polka    1:09
6	Ah, Jeannette...  Bourgmestre, Jeannette	1:11
7	Bonjour, monsieur le haut-sonneur...  Bourgmestre, Haute-sonneur       1:53
8	C’est la grande tradition...  Bourgmestre, Haute-sonneur    1:31
9	Bonjour Jeannette...  Jean, Jeannette	3:26
10	Allez, il faut nous préparer...  Haut-sonneur, Jean    2:41
11	Un... deux... trois...  Les Villageois		1:01
12	Le Diable! C’est le Diable!...  Haut-sonneur, Bourgmestre, Jean  2:19
13	Le Diable mime avec un solo violon de l’orchestre.   1:58

Deuxième Tableau
14	Interlude 2:16
15	Tarantelle 1:01
16	Ma tête tourne...  Les Villageois, Haute-sonneur  1:36
17	La, la, la, la...  Jeannette, Jean	1:52
18	Holà! Holà! Holà!...  Les Villageois, Bourgmestre	1:37
19	Holà! Holà! Holà!...  Les Villageois, Jean, Bourgmestre   2:07
20	Mon Dieu, sauve-nous...  Jean	1:55
21	Un... deux... trois...  Les Villageois	0:39
22	Savez-vous planter...  Les Enfants	2:23

La Chute de la Maison Usher (1910 rev. 1915/16) [51:56]
William Dazeley (baritone) - Roderick Usher
Eugene Villanueva (baritone) - A friend of Roderick
Virgil Hartinger (tenor) - The Doctor
Lin Lin Fan (soprano) - Lady Madeline

Le Diable dans le Beffroi (1903) [36:56]
Eugene Villanueva (baritone) - The Burgomaster
Lin Lin Fan (soprano) - Jeannette
Michael Dries (bass) - the Bell-ringer
Virgil Hartinger (tenor) - Jean

Kammerchor St. Jacobi Göttingen
Göttinger Symphonie Orchester
Christoph-Mathias Mueller - conductor

Claude Debussy is admired as a colour artist and alchemist of sound. Debussys opera Pelléas et Mélisande premièred in 1902 and is regarded as a very special masterpiece, albeit a solitary one. The composers relationship with opera however was not as distanced as one could suppose from focusing on this single work which is in fact not an isolated component within the artists oeuvre. Plans existed for further operatic projects and Debussy devoted himself intensely to two operas based on texts by Edgar Allen Poe during the last few years of his life which were dominated by ill health. He continued working on La Chute de la Maison Usher (The Fall of the House of Usher) until shortly before his death and was distraught at not being able to complete this composition. Le Diable dans le Beffroi (The Devil in the Belfry) has only survived in sketch form. The English musicologist Robert Orledge (*1948), a renowned expert within the field of French music at the beginning of the twentieth century, reconstructed both operas with great sensitivity to Debussys compositional style, augmenting missing passages. Debussy had promised the New York Metropolitan Opera the premiere of the Poe operas, apparently still believing that he would still complete them both. The composer received contractual confirmation that both works would only be performed consecutively on the same evening, meaning that the gloomy melancholy of one work would serve as a counterweight to the mocking humour of the other. The operas in their complete form as reconstructed by Robert Orledge have never been heard within the context intended by the composer. The production featuring the Göttinger Symphonie Orchester is therefore a world première: according to Debussys wishes, the two operas would have been performed at the New York Metropolitan Opera in this exact juxtaposition. ---Editorial Reviews

The listener may be forgiven for not knowing that any Debussy "Edgar Allan Poe Operas" existed, for neither of the works recorded here was ever completed. Moreover, and you don't learn this unless you read the notes or have investigated for yourself, one of them was hardly begun. After the success of Pelléas et Mélisande in New York, Debussy was encouraged to adapt a pair of Poe's short stories for a new American production. Debussy needed little encouragement and quickly produced a pair of scenarios, but other projects intervened, and the operas were never finished. The more complete one is La chute de la maison Usher (The Fall of the House of Usher), for which there are substantial sketches and several full realizations including the one here by "creative musicologist" Robert Orledge. Le diable dans le beffroi is almost entirely Orledge's work, and he seems to have diverged substantially from what Debussy planned (he has solo voices where Debussy apparently intended a choral work). This puts the whole project here firmly in the speculative realm, especially inasmuch as the operas seem to have been planned as a kind of pair, with Le diable dans le beffroi as the comic counterpart to the familiar moody tale of the House of Usher. But the music, especially in the Usher work (the patchwork of parody and quotation Orledge puts together for Le diable makes the question of whether it's Debussyan less relevant), sounds like Debussy, and although the graphics credit only the Göttinger Symphonie Orchester under Christoph-Matias Mueller, there are some fine solo singers here, most of all William Dazeley as Roderick Usher. Sample the climactic final tracks of this opera for the effect. Those interested in how Debussy saw Poe, as manifested in his adaptations, will be pleased to find complete texts in English, French, and German in the booklet (Debussy worked from Baudelaire's translations). Recommended for Debussy buffs. ---James Manheim, AllMusic Review

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1. No. 1, 'Pour les cinq doigts' (after Czerny
2. No. 2, 'Pour les tierces' 
3. No. 3, 'Pour les quartes' 
4. No. 4, 'Pour les sixtes' 
5. No. 5, 'Pour les octaves' 	Listen
6. No. 6, 'Pour les huit doigts' 
7. No. 7, 'Pour les degres chromatiques' 
8. No. 8, 'Pour les agrements' 
9. No. 9, 'Pour les notes repetees' 
10. No. 10, 'Pour les sonorites opposees' 
11. No. 11, 'Pour les arpeges composes' II 
12. No. 12, 'Pour les accords'

Mitsuko Uchida – piano

Early in 1915, disheartened by the menace of World War I and gravely ill with cancer, Claude Debussy (1862-1918) nevertheless managed to compose. The fruits of his labors, 12 Etudes (study pieces or exercises), would be his last important works for solo piano, and would represent a distillation of the composer's musical legacy. It was appropriate for Debussy—the most original composer for the piano since Franz Liszt—to join the ranks of etude composers. Equally fitting was his dedication of his two volumes to Frederick Chopin, noting that the serious nature of the exercises was offset by a charm reminiscent of the earlier master.

The etudes are divided into two books, each different in conception. Book I is devoted to exploring the technical problems and musical possibilities inherent in different intervals (thirds, sixths, etc.), while Book II engages in the exploration of musical syntax and style. In all, the etudes are witty, challenging, and inspired. Though academic in nature—and perhaps less easily digested than other of Debussy's works—they fall closely on the heels of his popular Préludes and Images, and reflect the same aesthetic concerns: complex harmonies, fragmented melodic lines, and colorful textures.

The first etude of Book I, "Pour les 'cinq doigts'-d'apres Monsieur Czerny" (For Five Fingers-after Mr. Czerny), is inspired by the five-finger exercises of Carl Czerny. Debussy pantomimes the pedantic works by placing figurations in grotesque juxtaposition and introducing bizarre modulations. "Pour les Tierces" (For Thirds) presents an extraordinary variety of patterns in parallel thirds, excepting those already encountered in "Tièrces alternées" from the second book of Préludes. "Pour les Quartes" (For Fourths) exercises the pianists ability in parallel fourths. Almost needless to say, quartal harmony abounds, making this etude more tonally adventurous than many of the others. "Pour les Sixtes" (For Sixths) is a slow and meditative work with two fast interludes, and one forte interruption. "Pour les Octaves" (For Octaves) combines chromaticism, whole-tone harmonies and complex syncopation. Probably the most brilliant etude of both books, it is equally difficult to play. "Pour les huit doigts" (For Eight Fingers) is meant to be performed (the composer's suggestion) without the use of the thumbs, due to the division of the figuration into four-note scale patterns. It finds humor in its rigid insistence on four-note groupings and sudden ending.

Book II begins with "Pour les degrés chromatiques" (For Chromatic Intervals), an essay in the use of the chromatic scale, both compositionally and technically. "Pour les agréments" (For Ornaments) is one of the most fiendishly difficult works in the repertoire. The entire fabric of the music is created by juxtaposing musical embellishments, arpeggiations, and miniature cadenza-like passages. "Pour les notes répétées" (For Repeated Notes) requires a performer able to execute repeated tones with great rapidity while still maintaining the piece's humorous, scherzando atmosphere. One wry melodic fragment balances the otherwise relentlessly staccato texture. "Pour les sonorités opposées" (For Opposing Sonorities) emphasizes the kind of multiple-layered textures found earlier in the second set of Images and many of the préludes. "Pour les arpéges composés" (For Composed, or Written-out, Arpeggios), easily the best-known of all the etudes, redefines the arpeggio to include a variety of non-harmonic tones (such as the added second or the added ninth). "Pour les accords" (For Chords), is probably the nearest thing to a Romantic virtuoso piece that Debussy ever produced. Mammoth in conception and brutally difficult, this etude juxtaposes relentless perpetual motion with an almost uncomfortably still middle section. A truncated reprise precedes a driving conclusion that puts even the most skilled performer to a grueling test, both technically and interpretively. ---All Music Guide

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01. 'Le balcon': 'Mere des souvenirs'
02. 'Harmonie du soir': 'Voici venir les temps ou vibrant sur 
03. 'Le jet d'eau': 'Tes beaux yeux sont las, pauvre amante!' 
04. 'Recueillement': 'Sois sage, o ma Douleur, et tiens-toi pl 
05. 'La mort des amants': 'Nous aurons des lits pleins d'odeur
06. Nuit d'étoiles ('Nuit d'étoiles, sous tes voiles') 
07. Fleur des blés ('Le long des blés que la brise fait onduler')
08. Romance 
09. Dans le jardin ('Je regardais dans le jardin')
10. Les Angélus ('Cloches chrétiennes pour les matines')
11. L'Ombre des Arbres 
12. Mandoline ('Les donneurs de sérénades') 
13. Le son du Cor s'afflige 
14. L'Enchelonnement des Haies 
15. 'Soupir': 'Mon ame vers ton front ou reve' 
16. Plact futile': 'Princesse! a jalouser le destin d'une Hebe 
17. 'Eventail': 'O reveuse, pour que je plonge'

Hugues Cuenod – tenor
Martin Isepp – piano

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1. La Mer: I. De L'aube A Midi Sur La Mer
2. La Mer: II. Jeux De Vagues
3. La Mer: III. Dialogue Du Vent Et De La Mer
4. Nocturnes – Nuages
5. Nocturnes – Fetes
6. Nocturnes – Sirenes

Cleveland Orchestra
Pierre Boulez – conductor

Pierre Boulez made his early reputation as a Debussy conductor, and with good reason. Debussy's reputation as a musical "impressionist" led most people to think of him as a sort of musical Claude Monet--all blurry outlines and fuzzy images--but Boulez changed this perception, bringing an analytical clarity and razor-sharp definition to the composer's musical mosaics. What he has achieved in this second series of Debussy recordings is an additional naturalness and spontaneity of expression. The Cleveland Orchestra is the ideal vehicle for this sort of interpretation, being perhaps the most technically precise band in the world. The result is just about perfect. --- David Hurwitz, Editorial Reviews

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Disc: 1
1. Préludes Book I: I. Danseuses de Delphes (Lent et grave) - Walter Gieseking
2. Préludes Book I: II. Voiles (Modéré) - Walter Gieseking
3. Préludes Book I: III. Le vent dans Ia plaine (Animé) - Walter Gieseking
4. Préludes Book I: IV. Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir (Modéré) - Walter Gieseking
5. Préludes Book I: V. Les collines d'Anacapri (Trés modéré) - Walter Gieseking
6. Préludes Book I: VI. Des pas sur la neige (Triste et lent) - Walter Gieseking
7. Préludes Book I: VII. Ce qu'a vu le vent d'Ouest (Animé et tumultueux) - Walter Gieseking
8. Préludes Book I: VIII. La fille aux cheveux de lin (Trés calme et doucement expressif) - Walter Gieseking
9. Préludes Book I: IX. La sérénade interrompue (Modérément animé) - Walter Gieseking
10. Préludes Book I: X. La cathédrale engloutie (Profondément calme) - Walter Gieseking
11. Préludes Book I: Xl. La danse de Puck (Capricieux et léger) - Walter Gieseking
12. Préludes Book I: XII. Minstrels (Modéré) - Walter Gieseking
13. Préludes Book II: I. Brouillards (Modéré) - Walter Gieseking
14. Préludes Book II: II. Feuilles mortes (Lent et mélancolique) - Walter Gieseking
15. Préludes Book II: III. La Puerta del Vino (Mouvement de Habanera) - Walter Gieseking
16. Préludes Book II: IV. Les fées sont d'exquises danseuses (Rapide et léger) - Walter Gieseking
17. Préludes Book II: V. Bruyéres (Calme) - Walter Gieseking
18. Préludes Book II: VI. General Lavine - eccentric (Dans le style et le mouvement d'un Cakewalk) - Walter Gieseking
19. Préludes Book II: VII. Le terrasse des audiences du clair de lune (Lent) - Walter Gieseking
20. Préludes Book II: VIII. Ondine (Scherzando) - Walter Gieseking
21. Préludes Book II: IX. Hommage à S. Pickwick, Esq., P.P.M.P.C. (Grave) - Walter Gieseking
22. Préludes Book II: X. Canope (Trés calme et doucement triste) - Walter Gieseking
23. Préludes Book II: XI. Les tierces alternées (Modérément animé) - Walter Gieseking
24. Préludes Book II: XlI. Feux d'artifice (Modérément animé) - Walter Gieseking

Disc: 2
1. Pour le piano: I. Prélude (Assez anime et tres rythme) - C. Debussy
2. Pour le piano: II. Sarabande (Aved une elegance grave et lente) - C. Debussy
3. Pour le piano: III. Toccata (Vif) - C. Debussy
4. Estampes: I. Pagodes (Moderement anime) - C. Debussy
5. Estampes: II. La soirée dans Grenade (Mouvement de Habanera) - C. Debussy
6. Estampes: III. Jardins sous la pluie (Net et vif) - C. Debussy
7. Images, Set I: I. Reflets dans l'eau (Andantino molto) - C. Debussy
8. Images, Set I: II. Hommage à Rameau (Lent et grave) - C. Debussy
9. Images, Set I: III. Mouvement (Anime) - C. Debussy
10. Images, Set II: I. Cloches à travers les feuilles (Lent) - C. Debussy
11. Images, Set II: II. Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut (Lent) - C. Debussy
12. Images, Set II: III. Poissons d'or (Anime) - C. Debussy
13. Children's Corner: I. Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum (Moderement anime) - C. Debussy
14. Children's Corner: II. Jimbo's Lullaby (Assez modere) - C. Debussy
15. Children's Corner: III. Serenade for the Doll (Allegretto ma non troppo) - C. Debussy
16. Children's Corner: IV. The Snow is Dancing (Moderement anime) - C. Debussy
17. Children's Corner: X. The Little Shepherd (Tres modere) - C. Debussy
18. Children's Corner: VI. Golliwogg's Cakewalk (Allegro giusto) - C. Debussy

Disc: 3
1. 12 Etudes: I. Pour les cinq doigts (d'apres Monsieur Czerny) (Sagement) - C. Debussy
2. 12 Etudes: II. Pour les tierces (Moderato, ma non troppo) - C. Debussy
3. 12 Etudes: III. Pour les quartes (Andantino com moto) - C. Debussy
4. 12 Etudes: IV. Pour les sixtes (Lento) - C. Debussy
5. 12 Etudes: V. Pour les octaves (Joyeaux et emporte, librement rythme) - C. Debussy
6. 12 Etudes: VI. Pour les huit doigts (Vivamente, molto leggiero e legato) - C. Debussy
7. 12 Etudes: VII. Pour les degrés chromatiques (Scherzando, animato assai) - C. Debussy
8. 12 Etudes: VIII. Pour les agréments (Lento, rubato e leggiero) - C. Debussy
9. 12 Etudes: IX. Pour les notes répétées (Scherzando) - C. Debussy
10. 12 Etudes: X. Pour les sonorités opposées (Modere, sans lenteur) - C. Debussy
11. 12 Etudes: XI. Pour les arpèges composés (Dolce e lusingando) - C. Debussy
12. 12 Etudes: XI. Pour les accords (Dedide, rythme, sans lourdeur) - C. Debussy
13. Masques (Tres vif et fantasque) - C. Debussy
14. D'un cahier d'esquisses (Tres lent-sans rigueur) - C. Debussy
15. L'Isle joyeuse (Quasi una cadenza - Tempo : Modere et tres souple) - C. Debussy
16. La plus que lente (Lent - Molto rubato con morbidezza) - C. Debussy
17. Le petit negre (Cakewalk. Allegro giusto) - C. Debussy
18. Berceuse heroique (Modere - sans lenteur) - C. Debussy
19. Hommage à Haydn (Mouvement de Valse lente) - C. Debussy

Disc: 4
1. Suite Bergamasque: I. Prélude (Moderato - tempo rubato) - C. Debussy
2. Suite Bergamasque: II. Meneut (Andantino) - C. Debussy
3. Suite Bergamasque: III. Clair de lune (Andante tres expressif) - C. Debussy
4. Suite Bergamasque: IV. Passepied (Allegretto ma non troppo) - C. Debussy
5. Danse bohémienne (Allegro) - C. Debussy
6. Rêverie (Andantino sans lenteur) - C. Debussy
7. Mazurka (Scherzando - assez anime) - C. Debussy
8. Valse romantique (Tempo di valse - Allegro moderato) - C. Debussy
9. Deux Arabesques: I. Andantino con moto - C. Debussy
10. Deux Arabesques: II. Allegretto scherzando - C. Debussy
11. Nocturne en re bemol majeur - in D flat - Des-dur - C. Debussy
12. Danse (Tarentelle styrienne) (Allegretto) - C. Debussy
13. Ballade (Andantino con moto) - C. Debussy
14. Fantaisie For Piano And Orchestra: I. Andante - Allegro - C. Debussy
15. Fantaisie For Piano And Orchestra: II. Lento e molto espressivo- - C. Debussy
16. Fantaisie For Piano And Orchestra: III. Allegro molto - C. Debussy

Walter Gieseking – piano

Recorded 1951-55 in London and 1951 in Frankfurt. Digitally remastered 1995.

Certain creators and re-creators become synonymous. Beethoven and Schnabel, Chopin and Rubinstein at once spring to mind. Yet in the entire history of performance I doubt whether there has ever existed a more subtle or golden thread than that between Debussy and Gieseking. French jibes about the reduction of Debussy's clarity to a charming but essentially decorative opalescence are little more than the bitter fruit of envy, of an exclusivity, that finds a German pianist's supreme mastery of their greatest composer's elusive heart and idiom hard to stomach.

Gieseking's insight and iridescence in Debussy are so compelling and hypnotic that they prompt either a book or a blank page — an unsatisfactory state where criticism or assessment is concerned! So let me, in the limited space available, shuttle from the general to the local or particular and vice versa. First and foremost, there is Gieseking's sonority, one of such delicacy and variety that it can complement Debussy's witty and ironic desire to write music "for an instrument without hammers", for a pantheistic art sufficiently suggestive to evoke and transcend the play of the elements themselves ("the wind, the sky, the sea ..."). Who but Gieseking could conjure such stillness in the closing bars of "Reflets dans l'eau" (Images, Book 1)? Here the ripples move outward from the centre, a haunting and mysterious memory of former hyperactivity (dans une sonorite harmonieuse et lointaine). From Gieseking "Des pas sur la neige" (Preludes, Book I) hints at an ultimate negation, of someone who can both poignantly and impassively regard "the nothing that is not and the nothing that is" — a true mind of winter. Lack of meticulousness seems a small price to pay for such an elemental uproar in "Ce qu'a vu le vent d'Ouest", and Puck's elfin pulse and chatter (pp aerian) are caught with an uncanny deftness and precision. The final Debussian magic may not lie in a literal observance of the score, in the unfailing dotting and crossing of every objective and picturesque instruction, yet it is surely the start or foundation of a great performance. Listen to the start of "Canope" (Preludes, Book 2) and you will note Gieseking's fidelity to pianissimo, piano and hairpin decrescendo, piet piano, hairpin decrescendo and pianissimo, all within five bars, complemented by a finespun texturing of chords that penetrates to the very core of this mysterious, near minimalist utterance.

More domestically, no one (not even Cortot) has ever captured the sense in Children's Corner of a lost and enchanted land, of childhood reexperienced through adult tears and laughter. Gieseking's moderee in "Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum" ensures that everything has time to 'tell' or signify. Here, Chouchou is presented as a serious little girl concerned with playing beautifully rather than getting through her practice as soon as possible. "Jimbo's lullaby", too, is no mere heavyweight, but a wistful animal lost in reflection (his lot as a woollen rather than a real elephant, perhaps?).

In the seemingly slighter and evanescent early works — in Danse bohemienne, with its touch of vaudeville, Reverie and Mazurka — there is a luminous fragility and pinpoint delicacy that lift such music on to a plane that would have surely astonished Debussy himself. And here, in particular, Gieseking's magic lies in infinitesimal shadings rather than in heavy-handed rubato or distortion. His Suite bergama.sque is a true pastoral idyll with a "Clair de lune" as shimmering and entranced as any on record (listen to the section commencing tempo rubato at 104" and you will hear chording balanced and textured from the top to perfection).

"Pour les tierces", from the Etudes, may get off to a shaky start but, again, in Debussy's final masterpiece, where pragmatism is resolved into a fantasy undreamed of even by Chopin, Gieseking's artistry tugs at and haunts the imagination. Try "Pour les sonorites opposees", the nodal and expressive centre of the Etudes, and you may well wonder when you have heard playing more subtly gauged or articulated, or the sort of interaction with a composer's spirit that can make modern alternatives, by Pollini for example, seem so parsimonious by comparison.

So here is that peerless palette of colour and texture, of a light and shade used with a nonchalantly deployed but precise expertise to illuminate every facet of Debussy's teeming and insinuating imagination. An added bonus, a 1951 performance of the Fantaisie for piano and orchestra (an ecstatic and scintillating work, played here with a lifeaffirming chiaroscuro) completes an incomparable set of discs. Andrew Walter's transfers are a triumph, with an immediacy much less obvious in the originals. These records should be in every musician's library, be they singer or conductor, violinist or pianist, etc. If Gramophone believed in a starring system they would deserve a heavenful of stars. --- Gramophone [6/1996]

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