Colors - Works by Debussy & Strauss

Albumbeschreibung

The title Colors for this release by the veteran duo pianists Yaara Tal and Andreas Groethuysen doesn't communicate its close focus: the program involves music, controversial music, heard in Paris at the dawn of the last century. Richard Strauss and Claude Debussy were the talk of the town, and the fact that they disparaged each other only added to the publicity; plenty of observers were alert to what was novel in the work of each, and plenty of ordinary Parisians heard their music in two-piano arrangements, including the elegant version of the Prélude à l'aprés-midi d'un faune heard here. It's a good concept, and Tal and Groethuysen have a clockwork coordination that is well beyond the norm. For whatever reason, it's the Debussy transcriptions that work best from this German duo. It may just be that the standout work on the album is the version of La Mer by André Caplet (1878-1925), a composer more often known for orchestrating Debussy works in other media. Although he wrote little piano music, he must have been a more than competent pianist; the range and inventiveness of the orchestral effects reduced here to a pair of pianos are remarkable, and Tal and Groethuysen bring out every detail. (After hearing this, you may well want to seek out Caplet's reduction of Debussy's Images.) Salomé's Dance of the Seven Veils somehow fails to have the desired erotic effect, although the Der Rosenkavalier waltzes that follow and especially the high-spirited Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28, offer an energetic finale. A major plus is Bavarian Radio's work with the duo in its Munich studio, putting the listener up close to the high-intensity coordination work of this duo but keeping everything crystal clear. Recommended for anyone wanting to experience how most Parisians in the 1900s decade actually experienced Debussy and Strauss.

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