No Description Available.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 24-JUL-2007
CD Reviews
Reference recording, beyond words
John Grabowski | USA | 04/24/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This will be a short review, because this disc is so stunning I really can't translate its virtues into words, and thus urge everyone who has even a mild interest in this music to check it out. I saw "even a mild interest" because after hearing these recordings you may find yourself in love, infatuated. This is as great as Debussy playing gets, and far far better than Gieseking's post WWII efforts (though those aren't shabby either). It leaves modern Debussy playing in the dust. Even on weathered 78s surfaces from the late 1930s you can still hear the nuance, the color, so effortlessly rendered in each piece. But it's more than just coloration. His tempi are perfect in each work and he gives each little gem real shape and structure (something many modern Debussy interpretors do not; maybe it was his German roots). He inter-relates the Preludes so that they build one on the other and aren't just considered as separate works. But mostly it's his *sound* at the keyboard, and the sheer efforrtlessness of it. Even on faded surfaces the effect is impressive. I can only imagine what Gieseking sounded like in person. (Actually, I probably can't.) Lightness mixed with authority--this is neither heavy nor billowy Debussy. After he finished recording these works, it's amazing to me anyone else had the guts to play them in his wake.Seventy years later we're still waiting for Gieeking's heir. Buy these stunning CDs before they foolishly are let slip out of print. Like Annie Sophie Mutter's Berg Concerto recording, like Claudio Arrau's Appassionata on EMI, like Furtwangler's Brahms, like Kurt Sanderling's Shostakovich 5th, this is one of the greatest moments of classical music."
Reference performances of Debussy
R. J. Claster | Van Nuys, CA United States | 05/09/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This contains nearly all of Gieseking's pre-WWII recordings of Debussy's solo piano music. I find these performances significantly superior to his worthy 1950s recordings of these pieces on EMI. More specifically, he plays here with much greater fluency, tonal nuance, and technical control. Listen to his floating tone, which sounds like it is emanating from thin air rather than hammers hitting strings, and the nuances in his dynamic shadings, especially at the softer end. I have never heard anyone else playing Debussy come close in those respects.
The sound, though obviously more limited than a modern recording, is, nonetheless, clear and detailed.
Although other pianists, such as Richter, have sometimes brought out more overt drama and characterization in some of these pieces, no one else has equalled him as a poet of sonic sensuousness in this repertoire.
An essential purchase for Debussy lovers!"
Immortal recordings, but beware
Mark E. Farrington | Albany, NY | 11/11/2005
(1 out of 5 stars)
"After being tantalized by this set for years, I broke down and ordered it last week. Just got it today...Giesking is astounding: celestial and erotic at the same time. This SHOULD be given five stars for the interpretations- but these 78-to-CD transfers leave something to be desired...Heavy surface noise AND heavy, obstrusive "No-Noising" or CEDARING (the best of ALL worlds).
Now, granted, we're talking about issued 78 copies dating from 1927 to 1939, and these last were probably war-time Columbia 78s, which (as I've noted elsewhere) are notorious for their high noise floor and "fuzziness." Still, is this is merely a "war-time Columbia 78" source problem?...Case in point: Fritz Reiner's Columbia/Pittsburgh "Don Quioxte," which dates from 1941...Compare the LYS transfer (done by the same engineer who transferred this Giesking set) with the Reiner/Pittsburgh Strauss transfers of Rick Torres, on Biddulph (both the LYS and the Biddulph sets being based on issued 78 copies). So, although it may be a challenge to extract the "breath of life" from those war-time Columbia 78s, the point is, IT'S BEEN DONE. (Enough said.)
Sadly, with THIS set out there, and the classical CD market such as it is, the chances are slim that anyone ELSE will undertake the labor-of-love remastering effort which these precious sides demand. (Naxos Historical appears to be more or less through with 78-to-CD transfers, at the moment being rather busy with the early LP era).
It is frustrating - and tantalizing- to have these immortal interpretations transferred as they are, here...Tantalizing, because just enough of Gieseking's tonal magic shines through to show that we're just NOT getting the best of what was on those old shellac grooves. It's one thing to be tantalized by Debussy's suggestive music; quite another to be tantalized by the TRANSFER.
Thanks, but No Thanks...Rather than be teased & tantalized, in this one instance (until someone decides to do it right), I'll go without."
Absolutely perfect performances
Kent Taylor | Eustis, FL USA | 08/31/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Walter Gieseking, born in France to German
parents, became during his lifetime the
undisputed greatest interpreter of the music
of Debussy and Ravel. His greatest success
came prior to World War II. During those days
his touch, dynamics, tonal control, and use
of pedal could not be duplicated by any pianist. My introduction to Gieseking's
performances of Debussy came with the later
recordings he made for EMI in the fifties.
While uniformly excellent and showing the
qualities that made him such a great Debussy
pianist it was not until I heard these
magnificent performances, all made prior to
the war, that I could truly grasp what so
many had told me about Gieseking's pre war
performances. Even with the inferior sound
one can hear absolute perfection in these
performances. A valuable testament of the
work of a master. If I could rate it ten
stars I would do so. Get these performances
while they are still available. No one, living
or dead, can match them."
RETRACTION (AS IN 'DUNCE CAP, SACKCLOTH & ASHES')
Mark E. Farrington | East Syracuse, NY | 07/31/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In November 2005 I posted a scathing review as to this set's sound. But I now have a non-defective copy, which I have listened to on better equipment, in a quiet setting, and a better frame of mind.
Now, there ARE many defective copies of this set, floating around the market, due to a factory-level malfunction : one of the discs would not play after the first two tracks. (One amazon reviewer writes that he went through 3 copies and STILL hadn't hit upon a non-defective one.) I myself hit one of those "duds" in 2005.
In a case like this, you may be better off purchasing a used copy which can be checked by the seller, prior to shipping. That is, before purchasing this on-line, contact the sellers (whichever one you choose) and tell them you're interested in their copy. But ask them to at least check the beginning of the tracks, prior to shipping, to be sure that each one "plays" - thereby saving them and yourself the trouble of returning a "dud" and processing a refund. With such a CD release - known to be plagued by factory defects - ANY reputable sellers of used copies should be willing to do this for you. (If they're not, make a note of it and ignore them in the future. My seller WAS willing.)
The surface noise IS heavier than usual for 78s from the 1930s. It could be that, due to rarity or lack of financial resources, multiple issued copies of the original 78s were not assembled or made available for this project. (For example, when Mark Obert-Thorn transferred the 1933 Heger/Lehmann ROSENKAVALIER for Naxos, he assembled six complete sets of the 78s, choosing the quietest version of each "side".)
But the noise filtering is NOT excessive; the overtones and nuances of the piano ARE faithfully put across. In fact, SO listenable are the results that, even in one case where the end of a 78 exhibits a thumping defect, the filtering never "jarrs" (disc 1, track 8, "Cloches a travers les feuilles"). Kudos to David Lennick for this.
Of these recordings, Philips included the PRELUDES & ESTAMPES in the Gieseking volumes of their 20th CENTURY PIANISTS collection. I have not heard these, but "word on the street" is that much heavier noise filtering was used.
Enough, already ! about the sound and the tranfers. They are "faithful" enough so that the MUSIC trumps it all. I once owned Gieseking's early 1950s re-dos of these works...Excellent, but these pre-war performances are far more Gallic in feeling, not to mention that Walter Gieseking's earlier playing is more supple - without necessarily being more "romantic." ("Romantic" Debussy, in and of itself, is something of an oxymoron. It's only "romantic" in the sense of not being as stringent as music which followed in the wake of gassed-muddy trenches and other atrocities.)
Until either Ward Marston, Seth Winner or Mark Obert-Thorn decide to transfer these precious "sides," this VAI set is the one to get. Amazingly, it is still "in print," and I pray that nobody who truly NEEDS this music has passed it by after reading, in my earlier review, that I'd "go without." I am no longer "going without." And for Godssakes don't YOU go without, on account of my earlier stupidity.
Track Listings (22) - Disc #1