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Claude Debussy…
Alfred Cortot...
Walter Gieseking…
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli…
Maurizio Pollini…
Nelson Freire (plus score)…
👏🏼👏🏼Excellent work. Have a lovely, relaxing Christmas.
Yes, Hugh, you’re right. William Tell is Rossini’s last opera (at the grand old age of 37!) and its overture,…
Delightful stuff. Is the overture to William Tell an exception to Rossini’s template? I’m thinking especially of the wonderful slow…
Very evocative. Good to get a glimpse through the sixth door of Bluebeard’s Castle, an opera due to be performed…
Thanks, Chris – very interesting on the context of these pieces. I listened to your talk shortly before Radio 3…
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The Art of Listening 
Thank you for another interesting session. I understand that Debussy liked faithful interpretations of his markings. He doesn’t provide pedalling or tempo instructions as you point out but I prefer the recordings that adhere to his own use of tempo on his roll. In much of it he doubles the speed of what is written for example on your slide 2. Some of the above don’t do that so their openings seem a bit fast.
Hi Julia,
I agree. The ‘plainsong’ which, after all, is marked ‘doux et fluide’ should, in its first appearance anyway, have the sort of freedom with which Debussy plays it. But to start the piece at that speed? No, that’s not my idea of ‘Profondément calme’!
Fascinating. Some of Debussy’s markings are quite visual – ‘dans une brume’. Maybe that’s why this music appealed to an artist like Ceri Richards. I liked the misty sound of Gieseking – a modern Steinway can sound too bright and clear in this piece as I think it does with Michelangeli.
Very interesting! I like Hugh’s reference to the visual – the idea of a cathedral rising out of the sea is nothing if not visual! Debussy seems to be as concerned with this (e.g. ‘sortant de la brume’) as with matters of tempo and phrasing. I’d like to know more about the differences between the poetic and the practical, but I think I’d prefer pianists to deliver the music as instructed rather than with their own poetic interpretation.