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Debussy - The Three Sonatas, Late Works

£15.59

In stock - available for despatch within 1 working day

Label: Harmonia Mundi

Cat No: HMM902303

Barcode: 3149020934456

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Release Date: 16th November 2018

Works

Debussy, Claude

Berceuse heroique
Cello Sonata in D minor, L135
Elegie, L138
Les Soirs illumines par l'ardeur du charbon
Page d'album
Sonata for flute, viola and harp
Violin Sonata in G minor, L148

Artists

Isabelle Faust (violin)
Alexander Melnikov (piano)
Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello)
Javier Perianes (piano)
Xavier de Maistre (harp)
Antoine Tamestit (viola)
Magali Mosnier (flute)
Tanguy de Williencourt (piano)

Works

Debussy, Claude

Berceuse heroique
Cello Sonata in D minor, L135
Elegie, L138
Les Soirs illumines par l'ardeur du charbon
Page d'album
Sonata for flute, viola and harp
Violin Sonata in G minor, L148

Artists

About

A century after his death on 25 March 1918, many Harmonia Mundi artists are eager to pay tribute to Claude Debussy, the magician of melody and timbre, the great ‘colourist’ and father of modern music.

In the three chamber sonatas, here combined with the composer’s final pieces for solo piano, we attain the purity, the absolute concision, the distant and mysterious world that give these works a testamentary dimension.

Sound/Video

Paused

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Claude Debussy: Violin Sonata In G Minor, L. 140: I. Allegro Vivo
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Claude Debussy: Violin Sonata In G Minor, L. 140: II. Intermède. Fantasque Et Léger
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Claude Debussy: Violin Sonata In G Minor, L. 140: III. Finale. Très Animé
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Claude Debussy: Berceuse Héroïque, L. 132: Pour Piano. Modéré (Sans Lenteur)
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Claude Debussy: Pièce Pour Le Vêtement Du Blessé, L. 133: Modéré
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Claude Debussy: Sonata For Flute, Viola And Harp In F Major, L. 137: I. Pastorale. Lento, Dolce Rubato
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Claude Debussy: Sonata For Flute, Viola And Harp In F Major, L. 137: II. Interlude. Tempo Di Minuetto
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Claude Debussy: Sonata For Flute, Viola And Harp In F Major, L. 137: III. Finale. Allegro Moderato Ma Risoluto
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Claude Debussy: Élégie, L. 138: Pour Piano. Lent Et Douloureux
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Claude Debussy: Cello Sonata In D Minor, L. 135: I. Prologue. Lent. Sostenuto E Molto Risoluto
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Claude Debussy: Cello Sonata In D Minor, L. 135: II. Sérénade. Modérément Animé. Fantasque Et Léger
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Claude Debussy: Cello Sonata In D Minor, L. 135: III. Finale. Animé. Léger Et Nerveux
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Claude Debussy: Les Soirs Illuminés Par L'ardeur Du Charbon In A-Flat Major, CD. 150: Pour Piano. Lent Et Rêveur

Europadisc Review

This year’s Debussy centenary has brought a veritable deluge of releases from record labels large and small, offering rich pickings for lovers of the composer’s music. Alongside the complete box sets from major companies Universal and Warner, and individual releases from all and sundry, one of the most distinctive contributions has been an ongoing series of discs from the esteemed French label Harmonia Mundi, paying tribute above all to Debussy the colourist and involving many of their major artists. With each disc handsomely presented in its own slimline box, the series has already given us some outstanding performances of Debussy’s orchestral, piano and chamber works, including a benchmark account of Book 2 of the piano Préludes from Alexander Melnikov, and an impressive La Mer together with other orchestral works from Pablo Heras Casado and the Philharmonia. And the latest release in the series maintains the high standards already set, with moving accounts of the three late sonatas interleaved with Debussy’s last four piano pieces.

The sonatas for cello and piano (1915), flute, viola and harp (1915), and violin and piano (1916-17) were the only completed works of a projected series of six that Debussy envisaged on returning to composition after a fallow period brought on by the outbreak of the Great War and the beginning of his own battle against the cancer that was eventually to claim his life in March 1918. In them he sought a return to the values of the great French clavecinistes of the Baroque era, while simultaneously distilling his own style to new levels. As a group of three, these sonatas have been much recorded on disc, most recently by Renaud Capucon, Emanuel Pahud et al on Erato. But these new Harmonia Mundi accounts present strong competition, revelling in not just the range of colours that Debussy conjures forth, but also the radical motivic interplay that backs up the composer’s claim to be discovering music anew.

Reversing the sonatas’ chronological order, the disc opens with an account of the Violin Sonata from Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov that balances forthright expression with exquisite fragility. At relatively steady but beautifully nuanced speeds Faust deploys a wonderful array of tone to reveal new layers of detail in this much loved work. From forte cascades to dusky fingerboard pianissimos, she is matchlessly partnered by Melnikov in a reading that you sense will stand the test of time just as much as the music itself.

For the magical Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp we have the dream team of Magali Mosnier, Antoine Tamestit and Xavier de Maistre, on instruments including an 1880 Louis Lot flute and a 19th-century Érard harp. The musicians delight in the music’s novel colours, and the textural morphing between ethereal flute and earthy viola is particularly ear-catching, while the harp adds a magical ring to proceedings. It’s a tremendously evocative account of a work that seems simultaneously to glance back to the dreamily erotic world of the Chansons de Bilitis (1894) while reaching towards new horizons.

In the Cello Sonata, Jean-Guihen Queyras is partnered by pianist Javier Perianes in a generous-spirited reading that embraces the music’s nobility and pain, the subtle humour, and the fizzing energy of the final movement. Like Faust, Queyras has complete command of his instrument’s range of colours allied to a broad expressive sweep, so that once again the listener is introduced to new perspectives in this familiar work.

Tanguy de Williencourt is the pianist in the four late piano pieces which, woven between the sonatas, give the disc a pronounced elegiac tone. They range from the Berceuse heroïque composed for a multi-authored collection dedicated to Belgian King Albert I, complete with muted fanfares, and the sombre witness of the Élégie (which appeared in a volume dedicated to the British Queen Mother, Queen Alexandra), to two miniature pièces d’occasion: a Page d’album written in support of the work of Debussy’s wife with the ‘Clothes for the Wounded’ organisation, and the immensely touching Soirs illuminées par l’ardeur du charbon, composed for Debussy’s coal merchant (and musical connoisseur) M. Tronquin to help secure a fuel supply in the harsh winter of 1916-17. All these pieces, the last tiny jewels in Debussy’s glorious output of piano music, reach far beyond their circumstances of origin in their power to move, and they are set out before the listener here with noble restraint and clarity.

This is a disc whose thoughtful programming adds up to much more than the sum of its already considerable parts, to create a remarkable sonic picture of Debussy in the harrowing but ultimately uplifting years of his life. In a year already rich in centenary tributes, this disc really does stand out from the crowd, with presentation and sound to match. In a series of recordings that are already becoming collectors’ items, this is something very special: do try to hear it!

Reviews

Most striking of all is the enchanting triple sonata, whose harp-inflected musings appear to float free of musical gravity in this hypnotic account from Xavier de Maistre, Antoine Tamestit and Magali Mosnier. Four piano rarities played with beguiling sensitivity by Tanguy de Wlliencourt round out one of the most captivating releases of the Debussy centenary year. Julian Haylock (Chamber Choice)

BBC Music Magazine Christmas 2018

The Sonata for flute, viola and harp sounds more than ever like a final, nostalgic evocation of the worlds of Faune and Bilitis here... Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov’s account of the Violin Sonata, Debussy’s last completed score, embraces exquisite fragility and strength in equal measure, the finale gathering itself for one last moment of assertion at the end. Jean-Guihen Queyras and Javier Perianes’s performance of the Cello Sonata, noble in manner and grand in scale, balances the austere grief of the opening movement with understated wit in the Sérénade and nervous energy in the finale. ... Tanguy de Williencourt, meanwhile, binds the disc together with the four piano pieces, played with admirable restraint and quiet, if unsparing intensity. Listen to it in a single sitting, and in the right playing order: it’s extraordinarily moving. Tim Ashley

Gramophone November 2018

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Condition	Description
New	Brand new item, only ever sourced from the official UK distributor. Usually seal-wrapped, although a minority of labels do not use seal-wrap.
Used - Mint	Used item in excellent condition. Not usually seal-wrapped.
Used - Good	Used item with some minor signs of wear and tear. Never seal-wrapped.
Used - Acceptable	Used item with obvious scuffs or cosmetic damage to the case or booklet. Never seal-wrapped.

Condition	Description
New	Brand new item, only ever sourced from the official UK distributor. Usually seal-wrapped, although a minority of labels do not use seal-wrap.
Used - Mint	Used item in excellent condition. Not usually seal-wrapped.
Used - Good	Used item with some minor signs of wear and tear. Never seal-wrapped.
Used - Acceptable	Used item with obvious scuffs or cosmetic damage to the case or booklet. Never seal-wrapped.

Debussy - The Three Sonatas, Late Works

In stock - available for despatch within 1 working day

Despatch Information

Contents

Works

Artists

Works

Artists

About

Sound/Video

Paused

Europadisc Review

Reviews

Also Available

£13.75

£13.75

£17.43

£13.34

£18.35

Condition Information

Condition Information