Debussy: Images / Préludes II

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CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Debussy: Images / Préludes II
Marc-Andre Hamelin (piano)

[ Hyperion / CD ]

Release Date: Thursday 20 November 2014

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A new album from Marc-André Hamelin is always cause for celebration. Here in his first Debussy recording for Hyperion he presents the two books of Images: Debussy's colouristic masterpiece, a bewitching compendium of 'scents, colours and sounds'. Also recorded here is the second book of Préludes, in a poetic and evocative performance.

'There will always be a special place for playing of Marc-André Hamelin's quality and insight … The discretion of his pedal work and dynamic control creates layered vistas of perspective, with the notes themselves nuanced precisely to the graphic character of the music at any given moment. The effect is akin to standing in front of a painting and allowing eyes and brain to synch and study every detail, while still nailing the whole picture … With beautifully wrought sound that captures just the right amount of ambient space around a Steinway that must have been prepared by a master technician, seize the day or night with Hamelin at the earliest opportunity. He offers much to learn from as well as to wonder at' (International Record Review)

'Hamelin produces solid, commanding recordings of everything he plays, whether it is Busoni or Janacek, making one wonder whether there is anything he can't play. None of this is empty virtuosity, either, as he seems to shape each phrase with the utmost care. His Debussy is gorgeous, somehow both delicate and vigorous' (American Record Guide)

'Marc-André Hamelin's stature, extraordinary from the start, increases with every new issue. And here in his latest album he subdues his legendary, transcendent technique to convey Debussy's very essence with a surpassing ease and naturalness … he offers profoundly expressive yet lucid and transparent insights into the composer's teeming imagination … The poetic sheen and finish of all these performances are things to marvel at, leaving me to long for more Debussy, to say nothing of Faure and Ravel, from an artist supremely attuned to the French repertoire, as to so much else. Hamelin's glistening sonority is flawlessly captured by the Hyperion team. This is a disc to treasure' (Gramophone)