Debussy

Advantages Amazing pianistic performances
Disadvantages I can't play like that

...There are so many interpretive problems involved with playing Debussy, not least that there is a very recognisable idea that only a Frenchman can express his idea properly. So having been working with my very English duet partner on Debussy's 6 epigraphs antiques recently we reached a point in our preparation where listening to a professional recording would help, who else would we consider but the Labèque sisters? The Labèque Sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque were bought up on the Basque coast and would travel to Paris to the conservatoire, which incidentally was where Debussy himself studied. The Labèques have always liked to explore a very eclectic range of music and will happily perform a huge variety of genres, from Bach (mid-late 18th Century) to a recently adaptation of Beatles music that Katia has been working on... Read review

Advantages Dreamy, peaceful, emotional music; range of abilities catered for
Disadvantages None!

...From a piano player's point of view, Debussy is a true master of the composing craft. His pieces wash over you as you play, enfolding you in the various emotions - joy, sadness, surprise, peace - which are so deeply engrained in the music. There are pieces to suit all abilities, from the (for the most part) fairly easy Rêverie to some of the fiendishly difficult Préludes, for which the scores look like nothing you've seen on earth; and whilst the pieces on occasion may sound discordant and even simply bad at first, stick with them as every time you will in the end be richly rewarded. Playing a Debussy piece isn't about learning notes and precise regimented time signatures, as with Bach for example. It's about letting your emotions flow out into the piano, about letting yourself go completely, just for a few moments. Start... Read review

Advantages Gripping, got into the characters
Disadvantages Ending was too abrupt

.... Their mother, Margarite, receives a letter from their aunt Isolde (by marriage) offering a holiday for Anatole and Leonie in her house the Domaine de la Cade, near Rennes les Bains. Due to Anatole's problems in Paris he agrees and they set off, with him making sure he leaves a false trail in case his problems try to follow him. We then meet Isolde, who lives in their mother's old family home, alone now that her husband has died. Leonie discovers a book written by her late uncle, about his experiences with a sepulchre in the grounds of the house. The book describes demons and a tarot deck, which Leonie sets out to find. The 2007 part of the story centres on Meredith Martin, an American writer. She is in France researching a book on the composer Clausde Debussy, but is also searching for traces of her birth family. All she has of her... Read review