Since its formation in 2005,
Onyx has assembled a formidable roster
of artists, some of whom, it seems, were no longer needed by major
labels.
One such is Pascal Rogé who has been a distinguished figure in the
French piano music scene for decades. He seems, in a sense, to have
come
round again with a recent and very well received complete recording of
Debussy’s piano music for Onyx.
On this highly-recommendable disc, he is joined by his wife (since
2009) Ami in versions for two pianos of major works by Debussy; the
composer
himself prepared the reduction of
Prélude à
l'après-midi d'un faune, while the performers have arranged
La
Mer. As was normal for Ravel, the piano versions came first,
the
Rapsodie Espagnole being for two pianos, and
the
Ma Mère
l’Oye (Mother Goose) for piano four-hands.
Almost as a bonus, there is also Saint-Saëns’s
Scherzo
Op.87 which he composed when in a depressed state following
the death of
his mother, though you would hardly know it from the sparkling opening,
realised here with considerable élan. While there are quiet moments
with contrapuntal touches, Saint-Saëns’s frisky pianistic
invention keeps the sun out for the most part. There are suggestions of
Debussy and Chabrier, not to mention an Offenbachian
galop
at the
end. It’s an interesting find and delightfully played here.
We ask straightaway with the Debussy transcriptions, why bother with a
recording
at all? Right at the start of
Prélude à l'après-midi
d'un
faune, you do miss the seductive timbre and legato quality of
the flute
melody
but the loss is really in accompaniments like the tremolando strings at
a
minute
in; the effect of replacing them with bass piano rumblings is to lose
the
mystery.
Would Debussy have written it that way if intending a piano piece?
Something
else
troubling me; I haven’t gone through the score bar by bar but what has
happened
to the harp arpeggios after the initial statement of the theme at about
35
seconds
in? They are played in the video at
Vimeo
by Cassard and Chaplin. My reservations are compounded by the very
clarity
of
the pianism, beautiful - and Debussy-esque - as it is. A legato quality
is
essential
to the lusciously erotic effect of this music.
La Mer fares much better. The more robust
quality of the music can
take
the essentially non-legato treatment provided by the pianos, though
once
again,
the tremolandi at the start of
Jeux de Vagues are a
poor substitute
for
the strings - you might argue that, as a rule, the piano is generally
good
for
watery effects. Again, the playing is superlative and I would certainly
listen
again to this version.
Ravel in Spanish mode works very well for the two-piano combination.
The rhythms of
Malagueña and
Habañera
are
crisply articulated.
Feria is a suitably joyful
affair, the opening
of which loses nothing from the absence of orchestral timbres.
Ravel’s
Ma Mère l’Oye is the one piece on
this disc that is likely to find its way on to the amateur musician’s
piano; the orchestral form with its two extra movements is really a
different entity. For me, the lovely performance given here is the high
point of the CD, the affecting combination of melancholy and
playfulness
superbly brought across. Contrast, for example, the crystalline clarity
of
Laideronnette, Impératrice des Pagodes and
the comforting
opening chords of
Le jardin féerique. This is a
version of one
of the high points of the piano duet repertoire that I would be happy
to
live with.
It is interesting to have the Debussy arrangements but I would
happily have this CD on account of the Ravel pieces, not forgetting the
Saint-Saëns.
Roger Blackburn
