Customer Rating: 
Summary: Debussy
Comment: This is a very lovely cd! I think everyone should have it in their collection!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: The perfect rain music, but I wish for more
Comment: Collections are tricky. Either they fulfill your needs perfectly, leading to you wanting more, or they don't fulfill enough, leading to you wanting more. Either way, you're left with the uncomfortable feeling that "something"'s missing. Is that the case with this "favorites" CD? Yes.
Oh, this is a nice enough collection to get you into a Debussy mood, but after listening to it, I felt frustrated. Why, I thought, did I buy a collection? Now I would have to find MORE. Yes, I got the generic favorites. I now have "Clair de lune" and "Reverie" (my reasons for purchasing the CD), but the musical beauty made me want more and more, to the point where I got very frustrated. After all, collections only give you a taste. Now I need to find... MORE.
The rain quality can be either a plus or a minus. By "rain quality" I'm referring to a slightly fuzzy sound. Not the best quality, that is. It sounds like the radio on a rainy day, so while getting you in the mood perfectly, it's a bit... well. It's of lower quality, though it does enhance the mood. I personally like it, but facts are facts.
While I listen to this CD often, I think that it's probably better just to jump straight to full CDs. No snippets. While enjoyable, it's not amazing and it leaves you with the slight sense of, "...well?". So... well?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Debussy Favorites in OK Performances, Variable Sound
Comment: Francois-Joël Thiollier has recorded much of Debussy's piano music for Naxos. This CD appears to be a 'favorites' album drawn from several previous issues. The most familiar and probably the best-loved Debussy pieces are here, beginning with a dreamy (but somewhat soupily-recorded) 'Clair de lune' ('Moonlight'). [The cover illustration is a nice reproduction of Eugène Boudin's gorgeous 'The Effect of the Moon.'] As of yet Amazon has not listed the contents, so I shall do so: Clair de lune, La plus que lente, Arabesque Nos. 1 & 2, Le petit nègre, excerpts from The Children's Corner (The snow is dancing, The little shepherd, Golliwog's cakewalk), La soirée dans Grénade, Jardin sous la pluie, Valse romantique, Tarantelle styrienne, Toccata, Reflets dans l'eau, Poissons d'or, Mazurka, Révérie, The Girl with the Golden Hair, and The Engulfed Cathedral. Thiollier often takes slower than usual tempi, and he often sounds rather deliberate or even stodgy as a result. This is not to say there aren't some quicker tempi taken: 'Le petit nègre' starts off with a real Gottschalkian verve, but when he comes to the second theme he backs off. 'Poissons d'or' ('Goldfish') swim excitedly (and beautifully). 'The snow is dancing' all right, but it seems to be doing a sarabande. These are pretty straight interpretations; one misses the drama or sadness in, say, Golliwog's Cakewalk. I think one problem in all these performances is a lack of crisp articulation. Debussy's soft-edged harmonies can lead a pianist to play in a flaccid, dreamy fashion and that works for some of the pieces, but on the whole Debussy requires more rhythmic spine, and that is often lacking here. The primary thing going for this compilation is the price. But I couldn't recommend it to anyone other than someone on a sharply restricted budget and who wants these particular pieces. For somewhat more outlay, one could have performances by say, the fabled Michelangeli or the spectacular Kocsis or the legendary Gieseking. TT=78:10 Scott Morrison
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