Debussy: Early and Late Piano Pieces

by Steven Osborne

Overview

Pianist Steven Osborne has recorded several successful albums of Debussy's music, appealing to those who value careful balance and phrase shaping over deep atmospherics. Those virtues are on display on this release, along with an innovative program concept: Osborne offers "Early and Late Piano Pieces." He doesn't stick to this rigorously; the Images of 1904, often known as the Images oubliees, come from the composer's "middle" period, and although there is certainly a late Debussy style, it is a bit hard to detect in the small, occasional works here from the last decade of the composer's life (the final Les soirs illumines par l'ardeur du charbon, written for a coal merchant who had done Debussy a favor, comes closest). However, they are interesting enough; Le petit negre, a less-familiar essay in African American rhythm compared to Golliwogg's Cakewalk, clearly shows that he understood the stuff in a way few other European composers did. The chief attraction is the collection of early works, not yet showing Debussy's mature style but filled with tentative steps toward it, and Osborne is exceptionally good at bringing out the blocks of sound where one can almost hear Debussy's teachers telling him to modulate. In this context, the breakthrough quality of the Suite bergamasque of 1890, even of the cliched Clair de lune, comes through vividly; here, Debussy seems to put it all together. As usual with Osborne, this Debussy release offers clarity and intelligence. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	10/07/2022
Label:	Hyperion
UPC:	0034571283906
Rank:	59828

Tracks

1. Danse boh¿¿mienne L4
2. Mazurka L75
3. Deux Arabesques L74~Andantino
4. Deux Arabesques L74~Allegretto scherzando
5. R¿¿verie L76
6. Valse romantique L79
7. Ballade slave L78
8. Suite bergamasque L82~Pr¿¿lude
9. Suite bergamasque L82~Menuet
10. Suite bergamasque L82~Clair de lune
11. Suite bergamasque L82~Passepied
12. Tarantelle styrienne L77
13. Nocturne L89
14. Images L94~Lent: M¿¿lancolique et doux
15. Images L94~Sarabande
16. Images L94~Quelques aspects de 'Nous n'irons plus au bois' parce qu'il fait un temps insupportable
17. Pi¿¿ce pour piano 'Morceau de concours' L117
18. Hommage ¿¿ Haydn L123
19. The Little Nigar 'Cake-walk' L122
20. Pi¿¿ce pour l'¿¿uvre du V¿¿tement du bless¿¿ L141
21. ¿¿l¿¿gie L146
22. Les soirs illumin¿¿s par l'ardeur du charbon L150

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Steven Osborne   Primary Artist,Piano

Technical Credits

Stefano Baldini   Photography
Claude Debussy   Composer
Arne Akselberg   Engineer
Ben Connellan   Post Production
Viola Scheffel   Liner Note Translation
Benjamin Ealovega   Photography
Simon Perry   Executive Producer
Henri Edmond Cross   Cover Illustration
Marie-Stella Paris   Liner Note Translation
Roger Nichols   Liner Notes
Nigel Polmear   Piano Technician
Stephen Johns   Recording Producer
Todd Harris   Booklet Editor