Volume 3 concludes Håkon Austbø’s complete recording of Debussy’s works for piano solo.

Claude Debussy spent many years in developing his musical idiom. On this disc we find the works of the young composer in a period of great development, starting with the “Suite Bergamasque”(1890) and ending with “Pour le Piano” (1902). In the shorter pieces one hears how the young Debussy explores several different routes in his creative search.
“Suite Bergamasque” is regarded as Debussy’s first great and important work for piano solo. Of the suite’s immortal D flat slow movement, ‘Clair de Lune’ itself, there is little to say except that it is a miniature of the utmost perfection. There was a 15 year gap between the writing and publishing of the “Suite Bergamasque”, and during that period, Debussy refined and perfected a more focused, more virtuosic, successor to it, the celebrated suite “Pour le Piano”.

Håkon Austbø’s multi-faceted and sensitive approach to Debussy’s music has received praise from all areas, and the performances have in many cases been seen as revelatory. “…Colours don't so much merge into one another as retain their independent sheen. As a result one listens afresh to even the most familiar pieces” - International Piano on vol. 1, PSC 1250.

He has been the recipient of many awards during his career, including the prestigious Greig Prize in 2003. Amongst his many recordings there is a critically acclaimed cycle of Messiaen’s piano music for Naxos, and a set of the 10 Scriabin sonatas on Simax which was acclaimed as being of reference quality by the Gramophone.


Tracklisting:

1. Danse bohémienne
2. Mazurka
3-4. Deux Arabesques
5. Rêverie
6. Valse romantique
7–10. Suite Bergamasque
11. Ballade
12. Danse (Tarantelle styrienne)
13. Nocturne
14-16. Pour le Piano