Rosetti · Concertos for Two Horns · Notturno for 2 flutes, 2 horns & Strings

Klaus Wallendorf and Sarah Willis are members of the Berlin Philharmonic, and they play this technically difficult music with aplomb, teamwork, and sympathy. These are not "authentic" performances – modern valved horns are used by Wallendorf and Willis - but this hardly takes away from their achievement. The accompaniments by Moesus and the Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic are lively and well-nourished. Nice sound too, thanks to Bavarian Radio. --classical.net

This well-filled disc is a delight from start to finish. The engineers of Bayerisches Rundfunk have done a superlative job in capturing the vast range of pitch and volume of the solo horn parts and the recorded sound is clean and bright, without being top heavy or brittle. This is an undoubtedly joyous recording and is easily recommendable. No listener could be disappointed with music as engaging as this, performed as well as this is. --musicweb-international.com

Saint-Saëns · Violin Concertos 1 & 3 · Havanaise · Introduction et rondo capriccioso

 

Fluid, elegant, and lyric, violinist Kyung Wha Chung was the first Western-style classical virtuoso to emerge from Korea. Her musical career began at the age of three. Her fame in the seventies and eighties was at the top level. Chung later extended her repertoire in her interpretations of Romantic, Modern music, Baroque and Mozart.

Devienne · 4 Bassoon Concertos

A celebrated bassoonist and flutist in late seventeenth century France, François Devienne is remembered now for the several concertos he wrote for his own performance, although he also wrote a dozen operas and many chamber works.

A. Scarlatti · 6 Sinfonie di Concerto Grosso · 3 Concerti

Alessandro Scarlatti was among the most important Italian composers of opera from the late Baroque period. He is credited with establishing the Neapolitan school of opera in the eighteenth century, rapidly improving the predominantly provincial state of music in Naples into a sophisticated and enduring tradition. He composed over 600 cantatas, more than 100 operas, many oratorios, serenatas, sonatas, and other instrumental pieces.

Oddly, his historical position declined after his death and his reputation was not rehabilitated until the early twentieth century. His importance in music is further bolstered by the fact he was the father of Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), who in the keyboard realm was among the most individual and influential composers of his day. Another son, Pietro, also became a composer of some distinction. --allmusic.com

Yoshimatsu · Piano Concerto "Memo Flora"

"The style is international pastel: quiet, tonal, cool. Yoshimatsu’s concerto is delicately melodic and playful. Strongest are the elegiac And Birds Are Still, and While an Angel Falls into a Doze..., with Pärt-like textures..." --BBC Music Magazine

"...Excellent performances and sound engineering add to the beauty of this intriguing disc." --The Ottawa Citizens Week
Performance ****  Sound *****

"The more accesible end of contemporary, composition, with congenial performances." --Classic CD

"Manchester Camerata make their debut on the Chandos label with an interesting set of works by a living Japanese composer ... the real discovery is Yoshimatsu’s While An Angel Falls Into A Doze. Written this year, it’s a remarkable peice and reveals the Camerata at their best." --Manchester Evening News

Benda, J. A. · Sinfonias Nos. 7 to 12

"It makes one happy to know that the musical tradition of the bohemian Benda family continues without interruption until nowadays. A quality of execution more than excellent. The orchestra's vivacity in the first and last movements and its perfect soloists are exalting in the best way these symphonies." --CD Classica

Find Vol.1

Rosetti · Clarinet Concertos 1 & 2 · Concerto for Two Horns

All three works here date from the early 1780s and clearly demonstrate that there is more to this period than Mozart. The highlight of the disc is the double horn concerto, which is performed superbly. Dieter Klocker’s playing is brilliantly efficient but rather charmless. --BBC Music Magazine

Rachmaninov · Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3

This is a perfect example of "opposites attract," with the coolly elegant Pierre Entremont paired with the passionate Leonard Bernstein, but instead of clashing, these two complement and play off one another rather well. In terms of sheer sex appeal, this performance threatens to go off the charts, with Entremont's crystalline passagework in the first movement glimmering against Lenny's darkly smoldering New York strings.

Bach · Variations dans le style italien

Bach · Variations dans le style italien

“Tureck's artistry is without question extremely compelling...she makes a strong case for Bach played on the piano” --Fanfare

“Consummate artistry...She makes us feel that Bach's keyboard music could be played in no other way than this--the hallmark of a great artist” --Penguin Guide

Liszt · Les Préludes, etc · Smetana · Die Moldau

The revamped digital transfers enable Karajan’s irresistibly virtuosic performances of these Liszt tone poems (some, like Mazeppa . . . are by no means as familiar as they deserve to be) and other orchestral works . . . to register with an impact and brilliance unimaginable on the basis of the original LP releases. Les préludes, of course, was a longstanding Karajan staple; this stunning 1968 account is almost certainly definitive, and nor will you hear any finer versions of the [Rhapsody] included here. These are vintage Karajan offerings, and brightly lit, richly detailed remasterings . . .  -- Michael Jameson, BBC Music Magazine [reviewing the Liszt recordings]

Baroque Music of Bologna · Torelli · Franceschini · Jacchini · Gabrielli

"The St James's players respond well; articulation is crisp and accurate, the sound well balanced, and vibrato all but eliminated. Above all there is some spectacular trumpet playing, and the skeletal continuo indications have been realized with imagination and restraint. The result is an enjoyable and undemanding sequence of pieces." --IF. Gramophone

During the sixteenth century Bologna was comparatively unimportant as a musical centre; musical life was centred on the principal churches and monasteries, but even there there were few musicians of any real significance apart from Giovanni Spataro (a highly-respected theorist whose fascinating letters have just been published), the first maestro di cappella at the major church of the city, San Petronio. As with painting, the real change came in the seventeenth century when an orchestra was added to the forces available at San Petronio, and when the foundation of the famous Accademia Filarmonica encouraged a school of local composition.

This new record from Ivor Bolton and the St James's Baroque Players provides a fair sample of the Bolognese baroque manner, and particularly of the San Petronio cappella. Inaugurated by Maurizio Cazzati, whose music is not represented here, it culminates in the music of Giovanni Battista Vitali and Giuseppe Torelli. It is Torelli's music that is by far the most interesting on the record, harmonically more varied, with a greater sense of drama and altogether more lyrical.

The St James's players respond well; articulation is crisp and accurate, the sound well balanced, and vibrato all but eliminated. Above all there is some spectacular trumpet playing, and the skeletal continuo indications have been realized with imagination and restraint. The result is an enjoyable and undemanding sequence of pieces, at times a little dull perhaps (Franceschini's stereotyped triadic figures, endless scale passages and simpleminded fugato writing doesn't encourage one to rush for more), but always played with great style and musicality. --IF. Gramophone

Telemann · Complete Violin Concertos Vol. 3

Volume 3 of Telemann’s Complete Violin Concertos is performed by The Wallfisch Band; a band which consists of Elisabeth’s friends and students.

“...this is the third instalment of a very fine series. The best work is the Concerto in D, which has movement titles like Badinage and is wonderfully inventive...Wallfisch is joined by Susan Carpenter-Jacobs for some very elegant duetting.” --The Guardian ****

Telemann's violin concertos, for the most part, are genre-bending pieces that are apt to tie musicologists in knots. Most of them date from his years in Frankfurt (1712-1720), and were composed for gifted amateurs rather than professional virtuosi. The solo writing, consequently, isn't anything like as prominent as we find in Vivaldi, for instance, which explains why some violinists have turned their noses up at them.

Structurally, many of them take French dance suites as their models, which has led them to be awkwardly renamed Ouvertures en concert in French, or Overture Concertos in English. Undaunted by this confusion, Elizabeth Wallfisch and her band have been recording them for CPO: this is the third instalment of a very fine series.

The best work is the Concerto in D, which has movement titles like Badinage and is wonderfully inventive. The late Concerto in A was triggered by a trip to Paris in 1737, and is an example of how Telemann, chameleon-like, could absorb and reproduce another composer's style, in this case Rameau's. In the beautiful, more conventional Double Concerto in G, Wallfisch is joined by Susan Carpenter-Jacobs for some very elegant duetting. -- Tim Ashley, The Guardian

Fauré · Duruflé | Requiem

The best things are the ‘Pie Jesu’ solos: Popp sophisticated and secular, Te Kanawa warmer and franker. Otherwise, the Fauré turns slow, bland and bourgeois in an over-Anglican way, despite the professional chorus. Nimsgern sounds wobbly and wan. Davis is less inhibited nowadays but, even twenty years ago, the more innocent and expansive Duruflé loosened him up so that the big moments achieve their proper thrills, while the prevailing calmer moods remain tender, rather than chilly. -- BBC Music Magazine

The Fauré Requiem is a problematic work in that the composer left it in several versions, none of which is considered perfectly satisfactory. To this day performers assemble and re-orchestrate their own versions from the various manuscripts.

The Duruflé Requiem is an at once appealing work, strikingly original, tonal but modern in sound, endlessly fascinating. The "Sanctus* is tremendously exciting, the "Paradisum" gorgeously other-worldly. This chamber-sized performance, apparently arranged by the composer, for small choir and organ stresses the intimacy and integrity of the work and is quite successful.

Currier · Time Machines | Penderecki · Duo concertante | Rihm · Lichtes Spiel · Dyade

August 23rd 2011 will see Anne-Sophie Mutter’s 35th anniversary on stage. Anne-Sophie Mutter is not only one of the world’s top violinists but an international bestseller, having sold more than 5,000,000 units worldwide − and counting.

In celebration of this achievement, Deutsche Grammophon releases a new album featuring world-premiere recordings of two new works written for Mutter: Wolfgang Rihm’s Lichtes Spiel and Sebastian Currier’s Time Machines, recorded with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

“Lichtes Spiel features an evanescent, will o' the wisp quality to Mutter's lines, threatened by darker, steely shades in the orchestral arrangement. But it's light in not just the visual sense, but also the spiritual. Dyade is a more subtle, flowing piece bereft of rests, but no less unsettling” The Independent, 2nd September 2011 *** 

La belleza del canto

The Sweet and technically agile voice... -- New York Times

A beautiful, sparkling voice with a bright shining height and a pleasant and rich centre -- Opernglass

MP3 HQ · 115 MB

Vivaldi · Concerti Per Fagotto & Oboe

With this Volume 22, Opus 111 continues its ambitious project to record more than 450 Vivaldi              

manuscripts housed in the National University Library at Turin. Like many of the performances in previous installments, these--three bassoon concertos, two for oboe, and one double concerto for oboe and bassoon--also are characterized by widely contrasting tempos, sharply delineated dynamics, and especially here, a stylish in-your-face approach. From bassoonist Sergio Azzolini's quite audible intake of breath before beginning the Concerto in D minor and continuing throughout this captivating program, rarely have Vivaldi's wind concertos been rendered with such a consistent sense of urgency, vitality, and well, attitude. 

At no point do you feel that Azzolini, oboist Hans Peter Westermann, and the members of the Italian period-instrument ensemble Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca are less than fully engaged in and passionate about their mission to champion this less-familiar though certainly worthy repertoire.

The double concerto for oboe and bassoon in G major is especially ravishing, featuring a first-movement Andante molto where the soloists' aria-like phrasing sensuously complements the strings, and a spirited final Allegro molto that exploits the combined sonorities of the solo instruments. The opening Allegro from the A minor bassoon concerto (one of Vivaldi's most recognizable themes), with its measured beat and evolving rhythmic structure, also is rendered with uncommon agility and grace.

Many listeners will be familiar with what arguably is the program's most famous work, the Concerto for transverse flute subtitled "la Notte" (the night) RV 104. While there have been many exceptional period-instrument flute performances, listeners who enjoyed Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico's groundbreaking, over-the-top extravaganza on Teldec (1991) are immediately directed to this equally animated alternate version. Azzolini's manual dexterity and breath control, especially in the "Fantasmi" and following Presto movements, are absolutely amazing in what must be three of the most virtuosic displays ever written for the instrument.

Opus 111's sound is crisp, clear, and naturally balanced, and Azzolini and Louis Vatoison's informative, entertaining notes feature many fascinating anecdotes. In sum, this is another outstanding entry in an already important and distinguished series that's guaranteed to delight all fans of the composer. --John Greene, ClassicsToday.com

The Neapolitans · Pergolesi · Durante · Leo

Simply put, if you enjoy 18th-century violin music, you'll find an hour of pure pleasure listening to this expertly played program of unusual, rarely heard concertos by mostly lesser-known Neapolitan composers (Pergolesi excepted!). Elizabeth Wallfisch and her colleagues deliver performances that can only be described as ideal--sensibly paced, articulate, and to the point. They just play the music, albeit with sincere attention to its innate rhythmic energy and assertive melodic character.

There's a stylistic similarity to these pieces, but the spotlight moves from the vocally-inspired solo lines of Pergolesi's Concerto in B-flat and the A major sonata to the rich-textured orchestral dialog of Leonardo Leo's D major concerto for four violins. 

This latter piece is a fine example of both string writing and formal baroque style. Francesco Durante's Concerto No. 5 for string orchestra is a fiercely agitated, vivacious six-minute work that's both unadventurous and fundamentally exciting. Considering the abundance of recordings that feature works by the best-known 18th-century masters, this release is a welcome alternative, one that clearly accentuates the virtues of music that's often passed over or relegated to second-tier status. 

The sound couldn't be better--we hear soloist and ensemble in a natural setting that allows desirable space and intimate detail. --David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com 

Debussy · Complete Works for Solo Piano Volume 4

“Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's flexible virtuosity and innate grasp of Debussy's style and sound world yields ravishing, freshly minted interpretations of the Images and Etudes that proudly rank with (and sometimes surpass) the catalogue's reference versions.” -- Gramophone

“Anyone who doubts Bavouzet's abilities should sample the playful romp through the third of the Images, the quasi-Etude 'Mouvement', or his beautifully atmospheric 'Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut'.” -- BBC Music Magazine ****

 “Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's flexible virtuosity and innate grasp of Debussy's style and sound world yields ravishing, freshly minted interpretations of the Images and Etudes that proudly rank with (and sometimes surpass) the catalogue's reference versions. The Images gain welcome nourishment from Bavouzet's portfolio of ravishing colour shadings and articulations, while easily absorbing such pianistic liberties as playing one hand before the other, à la Michelangeli.

His headlong, impulsive 'Hommage à Rameau' contrasts with similarly nuanced yet more austere readings. In 'Poissons d'or', he sneaks a few piranhas into the fishbowl as he modifies Debussy's aussi léger que possible directive with volatile dynamic hairpins and witty accents.
'Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fût' also rivets your attention via his seductive legato and three-dimensional textures.

Bavouzet's Chandos Etudes remake may well be the best yet. As you follow the intelligently contoured left-hand counterlines of 'Pour les tierces' you almost don't notice the fluency and easy evenness of Bavouzet's right-hand double notes. On the other hand, in 'Pour les huit doigts' and 'Pour les degrés chromatiques' he favours melodic inflection and linear motion over Aimard's and Uchida's smoother, scintillating surfaces.

The difficult leaps of 'Pour les accords' have rarely sounded less like technical feats and more like music, and 'Pour les arpèges composés' rivals Horowitz's 1965 reading for harmonic pointing and sexiness.
Bavouzet precedes this étude with a full-bodied, emotionally generous performance of its recently rediscovered earlier version, Etuderetrouvée. This attractively engineered release will reveal more and more details to savour with each rehearing – guaranteed! If you haven't yet ordered it, what are you waiting for?” -- The Gramophone Clasical Music Guide 2010

Sibelius · Complete Works For Violin And Orchestra

Primarily a commander of turgid orchestral forces and vibrant musical landscapes, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius brought his formidable musical gift to just a single concerto. It is for violin, unsurprisingly; early on, Sibelius had aspired to a career as a concert violinist. His understanding of the instrument, his gargantuan Wagnerian orchestration, and his unabashed lyricism have succeeded in putting that single concerto at the heart of the violin repertoire, and it remains one of the most popular concertos written after 1900.

The demands on the violinist in the concerto (as well as the dozen or so violin works) are greater than the usual fast fingers. The virtuosity of a good Sibelius player is something more: a study in contrasts of light and dark, hot and cold, sadness and mirth. Quite an imposing musical task.

German violinist Christian Tetzlaff has all the right tools in his shed. His eternal, liquid line and burly, burnished tone are ideally suited to he retro romanticism of Sibelius. He plays with understatement, emotive through a prevalent stoicism that gives way at, ooh, just the right times to unequivocal gush and guts. The sweet Humoresques are tender and nostalgic, the Serenades warm and effulgent.

The rarely-recorded pictorial Suite is completely rapturous, and Tetzlaff is a knockout in the closing moto perpetuo. Simply a magnificent recording. -- David Simmons, WQXR   

Schubert · String Quintet · String Quartets "Death and the Maiden" · "Quartettsatz"

The Lindsay version gives the impression that one is eavesdropping on music-making in the intimacy of a private concert. They observe the first movement exposition repeat and the effortlessness of their approach does not preclude intellectual strength. In the ethereal Adagio they effectively convey the sense of it appearing motionless, suspended, as it were between reality and dream, yet at the same time they never allow it to become static. Their reading must rank at the top of the list; it is very well recorded. It now comes coupled at mid-price with an equally memorable version of the Death and the Maiden Quartet – a virtually unbeatable paring, with the Quartettzatz thrown in for good measure. -- Penguin Guide to Classical Music - 2008 Edition

"A fine , natural performance with an appealingly intimate sense of scale. There are some truly heavenly moments in this reading which fills the disc thanks to the first-movement repeat"  -- The Gramophone Classical Music Guide 2009, on Quintet

Monteverdi · Teatro d'Amore

“The technical perfection, and the easy informality with each other and the music, with which these pieces are performed, makes for a captivating listen...Meld Philippe Jaroussky's sweet countertenor into the mix (who is also letting his hair down) and you've got something that is very special, and very surprising.” -- BBC Music Magazine

‘A range of styles are explored…with a genial ease that belies the technical brilliance and musicianship without which it couldn’t possibly work. Aside from their superb music-making, the players convey a sense of utter conviction in what they are doing’ -- Gramophone

This, L’Arpeggiata’s first release on Virgin Classics, explores music by Claudio Monteverdi, blending instruments and voices – including those of countertenor Philippe Jaroussky and soprano Núria Rial in a kind of intoxicating baroque jam session. It includes the final duet from L’incoronazione di Poppea, often cited as one of the most sensuous and beautiful love scenes in all opera.

Founded in 2000, L’Arpeggiata is a French-based ensemble directed by Austrian-born harpist and lutenist Christina Pluhar. Its members, some of the leading European soloists in their field, join forces with exceptional singers from the worlds of baroque and traditional music. The group’s particular focus is on French, Italian and Neapolitan music of the 17th century and it works with often daring instrumental improvisations, exploiting rich textures created by blending a variety of plucked instruments, and a vocal style influenced by traditional music. 

The group tours extensively and its recordings on Alpha and Naïve have sold over 200,000 copies. Christina Pluhar describes L’Arpeggiata as "an international cocktail of musicians with lots of character. There is a basic ensemble of regular players and then they are joined by other performers for each project. I choose not to work with the same singers all the time, preferring to give myself the option of looking for voices that seem to me to be perfect for specific repertoire … There are so many different ways of using the human voice and I think there is so much experimentation one can do, even in early music. When I’m accompanying vocal music, I try to go as far as I can in terms of improvisation, searching for colours which reflect the voice of the chosen singer and which determine and support feelings. Emotions are very close to the surface in speech, the singer’s voice, and in the words whose meaning we’re trying to convey.

This recording was made in the celebrated Vredenburg concert hall in Utrecht, where L’Arpeggiata was resident ensemble at the Festival Oude Muziek in 2006.

Cello Portrait

Beate Altenburg, born in 1975 in Cologne, Germany, graduated with a Masters degree from the Royal Academy of Music in London in 2003. As a soloist, she has played with renowned orchestras in Europe and South America. She has been a prize-winner of numerous festivals. 

This CD, her brilliant first solo recording showcases great works for solo cello from Bach to the moderns.

MP3 HQ · 107 MB

Platti · 6 Flute Sonatas, Op. 3

Giovanni Benedetto Platti had his musical apprenticeship in Venice, where his teachers may have included older contemporaries such as Vivaldi. From 1722 until his death in 1763 he was employed at the episcopal court in Würzburg, described as an oboist and violinist, greatly respected for his virtuosity. His Flute Sonatas, presumably composed over a number of years, range from the late baroque to the early classical in style.

 Little is known of the early years of the Italian musician, Giovanni Benedetto Platti, even his date of birth being unclear, but was probably 1697. His teachers could have included Vivaldi or Albinoni, as he was an oboist and violinist of such quality that in 1722 he was taken to Germany and engaged to play in the court orchestra of Prince-Bishop of Bamberg and Wurzburg. It was there he was to spend the rest of his life, becoming the highest paid member of the court musicians, even ranked above the kapellmeister. He also appears to have been a teacher and a quite prolific composer. Whether he could play the flute is unclear, though at the time an oboist would probably have been proficient on the type of flute that predated the transverse instrument.

The concertos were composed in 1743 and, as was tradition at the time, were in a group of six, though they are in character markedly different?At the time they would have represented a stiff technical challenge to the soloist, though the accompaniment is functional. Playing a period instrument, the Norwegian flautist, Paul Wahlberg is a specialist in this era of composition, and plays with the nimbleness required. Try the fourth sonata for a sample, particularly as it is here accompanied by the clavichord, giving the impression of a strummed guitar that really suits the music. In total we are not talking about major discoveries, but these are engaging, unassuming pieces, nicely crafted, pleasing melodies and each ending with a happy and vivacious finale. The recording is nicely balanced.

Il Primo Uomo · Arias for Nicolini

Nicola Grimaldi (1673-1732) was the "Primo Uomo Assoluto" the undisputed first castrato on all great opera stages of this time. His voice was so unique that great composers like Scarlatti and Händel wrote arias especially for him. For this recording Dmitry Egorev and La Stagione Frankfurt select some of the most outstanding arias to honor legendary singer.

MP3 HQ · 113 MB

Mozart · Wind Concertos

This well-filled disc is a testament to the high performance standard reached by the L'Oiseau-Lyre label in the late 1970's and early 1980's especially in works by Mozart. Having already recorded a pioneering period instrument set of the complete symphonies, Christopher Hogwood turned his attention to the wind concertos with predictably delightful results.

The Flute and Harp Concerto is typically one of Mozart's gems and in this lovely interpretation it shines like a diamond in the sun with Lisa Beznosiuk and Frances Kelly's immaculate playing. The Andante is particularly beautiful with the recording in the Henry Wood Hall sounding pretty immaculate more than 20 years later.

The Andante for flute is similarly pensive and ravishing whilst Danny Bond fills the Bassoon Concerto with all the sprightly step and colour that one could indeed hope for. The first Flute Concerto rounds off the disc in exemplary fashion with Beznosiuk again on pretty much top form. A treasure of a disc and at this price, I really would not have any qualms in recommending it as my top choice for the works in question both to the newcomer and to the seasoned enthusiast. -- ClassicalNet

Delalande · Symphonies pour les Soupers du Roy

October 1990: Hugo Reyne, known until then as the 'recorder-player of Les Arts Florissants', presented the first-ever completed recording of the Symphonies pour les soupers du Roy with his ensemble La Simphonie du Marais, founded three years previously. Delalande's music with full historical accuracy. It is just as relevant and up-to-date today!

4/5 Diapason - *** Le Monde de la Musique -
**** Compact – 10 Répertoire

4 CD · MP3 HQ · 488 MB

Debussy · Complete Works for Solo Piano Volume 3

“This third volume confirms Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's winning affinity for Debussy's music. Such familiar pieces as the Suite bergamasque, Deux Arabesques or Children's Corner come across with their colours luminous, their ideas voiced fluently and the moods atmospherically fixed.” -- The Daily Telegraph

“Fiercely energised yet superfine, his performances are not for those with comfortable drawing-room notions of Debussy.” -- Gramophone

“…this delightful disc places Debussy's two most modest cycles (Children's Corner and Suite bergamasque) within a broadly chronological sequence of pieces spanning the composer's career.” -- BBC MUsic Magazine *****

“Volume 3 of Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's superb Debussy cycle links mostly early miniatures with the Suite bergamasque and Children's Corner.
Once more he turns conventional notions of 'impressionism' topsy-turvy, cleansing Debussy of years of dust and accretion and recreating him in every bar in a sparkling and pristine light.
Fiercely energised yet superfine, his performances are not for those with comfortable drawing- room notions of Debussy, and rarely in my experience has a pianist so faultlessly or precisely achieved his aims.

All sentimentality is erased from the Nocturne's enchanting evanescence and just when he momentarily has you wishing that his formidable directness would melt into something more heart-easing, he makes you gasp at his flawless balance of sense and sensibility. He makes something audaciously epic out of Hommage à Haydn and the startling hesitancy in the opening of 'The Snow is Dancing' is convincing rather than idiosyncratic.

His recital ends on a desolating note with the Berceuse héroïque's phantom battle-cries and bugle-calls memorably evoked. The superbly recorded disc includes his own remarkable essay.

This could well be the finest and most challenging of all Debussy piano cycles.

A greater study in contrast in 'composer and interpreter' would be hard to imagine then between Bavouzet and Pascal Rogéacute;. Where Bavouzet breaks out into blazing Mediterranean sunlight, Rogéacute; (radically enriching his earlier Decca Debussy discs) is happy to withdraw into shadow-land. Time and again his playing suggests emotion recollected in tranquillity rather than turmoil; and in, say, 'Hommage à Rameau' or the Sarabande from Pour le piano he discovers the mysterious, still centre of Debussy's art.

'Poissons d'or' is a marvellous distillation of indolence and flashing disruption, and 'Mouvement' is a perky and vivacious rejoinder to all former introspection. And so too is the Toccata, played with unerring ease and grace, and with many ear-catching details.

To summarise, the ever-elusive truth lies somewhere between Rogéacute; the dreamer, Bavouzet the sinewy but always musical athlete, Thibaudet, the teasing wit and sophisticate and, of course, the legendary Gieseking. You pays your money and you takes your choice…” -- The Gramophone Classical Music Guide 2010