Debussy: Images
Mathilde Handelsman
Sheva Collection 234
Total Time: 61:57
Recording: ****/****
Performance: ****/****
Debussy’s piano music provides a window into his growing exploration of line and its impact on harmonic structures. The music moves from the inherited harmonic ideas of the 19th Century and shifts into more impressionistic aesthetics before moving beyond into even more abstraction. He was also not above incorporating global music into his own work from Javanese gamelan and flamenco to even American ragtime. In this new release, pianist Mathilde Handelsman, a student of Menahem Pressler and John O’Connor, explores music from 1903-1907 covering some of the essential works of Debussy.
For this recording, Handelsman plays on an 1875 Steinway which makes this recording historically interesting as the sound is a bit less bright than a modern piano. This warmer sound quality imparts an equal richness in the harmonies that derive from careful sustains that Handelsman uses to shape the music. It also softens the higher registral writing sometimes as well which helps “Reflets dans l’eau” which opens the album in the first set of Images. Once the ear adjusts, made possible by the attention to detail and fine shaping of the music, the instrument itself fades into the background while the music can be experienced in this “new” way. The subtlety of her approach continues in “Hommage a Rameau” with its excellent shades of crescendo and decrescendo moments adding to her phrasing and approach quite well. She also manages to delineate and bring out the various lines of the music. The climaxes of the music thus grow quite well in her interpretations. Estampes provides an opportunity to further appreciate the shifts in Debussy’s style with “Pagodes” giving us a taste of new harmonic and melodic lines. The rhythmic ideas in “La soiree dans Grenade” also provide another opportunity to hear Handelsman artistry at play. The second series of Images brings us more beauty and exploration of sound and harmony with three final smaller works (“Masques”, “D’un cahier d’esquisses,” and “L’isle Joyeuse”) serving to round off the recital and serving as little encores of a sort.
There are hundreds (!) of recordings of partial and complete versions of all of this music and the competition is quite fierce. Those who appreciate the music will certainly have their own interpretive favorites. Handelsman makes for a fine interpreter of this music that can handle the virtuosic technicalities of the music as well as the subtle harmonic shifts quite well and it is obvious from her performances that she has spent a lot of time thinking through these pieces. The draw here will be to hear this music played on a “period” instrument of sorts. The miking is rather close at times which creates a sense of sitting in a studio, or salon, to hear the music rather than a larger recital hall space. It works well overall and makes for a fascinating journey through Debussy’s musical landscapes that perhaps provides a new window into the soundworlds he heard. As a debut recording, this one is quite impressive both technically and interpretively and it will be interesting to hear how Handelsman approaches to this music (which one could say has a fine French sensibility) continue throughout her career. This makes for a great start with a hope for more Debussy from her in the future.
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