Debussy / Duo Imaginaire - Japanese Echoes - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The intimacy, the proximity of the song stems from this special dialogue between voice and piano in which poetry can be found as much in the text as in it's musical transcription, with a refinement of elocution and musical form. The French art of the song ('la mélodie') was born in the early years of the nineteenth century, and the greatest composers excelled in it, from Gabriel Fauré to Claude Debussy, not forgetting Reynaldo Hahn and others less celebrated but no less fascinating, such as Déodat de Séverac. The programme of this revisits songs originally conceived for voice and piano, here transcribed for guitar. The delicacy of the plucked strings reinforces this proximity between the two languages, poetic and musical, as if the spider-like touch of the guitar was better suited than the paradoxically heavier finesse of the piano. This project, however, is above all the outcome of long years of work from the Duo Varnerin, a knowledgeable blend of a beautiful family story and a delicate musical encounter. After having followed an individual path with their own experiences before, sister and brother joined forces to unite their knowledge, their techniques and their musical affinities in the service of an uncommonly rare programme, with all the tenderness and refinement that these gems of French song deserve.

With two critically-lauded releases on Navona Records, pianist Eliane Rodrigues returns with Reflets, showcasing the pianist's nuanced and thoughtful performances of fifteen works by Claude Debussy. While it might seem that child prodigies are commonplace in the world of classical music, only a few truly make a lasting impact, one that lives on long after those prodigies have passed well into their adulthoods. Mozart began to play piano at the age of three, Beethoven did so at seven and a half, and Georges Bizet did so before his tenth birthday. Pianist Eliane Rodrigues, who began composing at three, played her first recital at five and first performed with an orchestra when she was just six years of age, can certainly be counted among those prodigious musicians, as evidenced on her latest recording, Reflets. The album opens with InchSuite Bergamasque,Inch one of Debussy's most well-known piano suites. The dynamic contrasts in the moods of the suite's four pieces are well suited to Rodrigues' sensitive and vivid style. Debussy is credited as one of the 'founders' of Impressionist music, distinguished by it's focus on suggestions and atmosphere, a world that Rodrigues also inhabits here, as evidenced by her cascading and powerfully textured performance of Debussy's InchBallade.Inch InchPour le Piano,Inch certainly one of the composer's most moving works for solo piano, features rapid, brilliant passages that fully emphasize the pianist's virtuosity. That impressionistic ability to invoke a mood or a feeling carries on with InchFirst Arabesque in E Major,Inch one of a pair composed early in Debussy's career. InchImages,Inch comprised of two 'books' of three pieces each, ranging from the subdued InchHomage à RameauInch to the energy of InchMouvement,Inch marked by the torrent of notes in it's finale. Eliane Rodrigues was born in Rio de Janiero, where the performances tha

Album Tracks 1. Pagodes 2. La Soiree Dans Grenade 3. Jardins Sous la Pluie 4. Les Naiades Et Le Faune Indiscret 5. Baigneuses Au Soleil (Souvenir de Banyuls-Sur-Mer) 6. Promenade 7. Gnomus 8. Promenade 9. Old Castle 10. Promenade 11. Tuileries 12. Bydlo 13. Promenade 14. Ballet of the Chickens in Their Shells 15. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle 16. Promenade 17. The Market-Place at Limoges 18. Catacombae (Sepulcrum Romanum) 19. Con Mortuis in Lingua Mortua 20. The Hut on Fowl's Legs (Baba Yaga) 21. The Great Gate at Kiev