Debussy: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 2 Alessandra Ammara

• Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918): Images, Book II:
• 1 Images, Book II: I. Cloches à travers les feuilles 04:25
• 2 Images, Book II: II. Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut 05:21
• 3 Images, Book II: III. Poissons d'or 04:25
• Images, Book II:
• 4 Préludes, Book II: I. Brouillards 03:05
• 5 Préludes, Book II: II. Feuilles mortes 02:50
• 6 Préludes, Book II: III. La puerta del vino 03:41
• 7 Préludes, Book II: IV. Les fées sont d'exquises danseuses 03:27
• 8 Préludes, Book II: V. Bruyères 02:37
• 9 Préludes, Book II: V. Général lavine—Eccentric 02:36
• 10 Préludes, Book II: VII. La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune 04:12
• 11 Préludes, Book II: VIII. Ondine 04:07
• 12 Préludes, Book II: IX. Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C. 02:39
• 13 Préludes, Book II: X. Canope 03:11
• 14 Préludes, Book II: XI. Les tierces alternées 02:46
• 15 Préludes, Book II: XII. Feux d'artifice 04:44
• Suite bergamasque:
• 16 Suite bergamasque: I. Prélude 04:23
• 17 Suite bergamasque: II. Menuet 04:51
• 18 Suite bergamasque: III. Clair de lune 05:01
• 19 Suite bergamasque: IV. Passepied 03:24
• Total Runtime 01:11:45

Info for Debussy: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 2

The second volume of a Debussy series attracting critical superlatives and comparisons with the likes of Cortot and Gieseking.

In 2016 Alessandra Ammara won high praise for an album of Mendelssohn duets with her husband Roberto Prosseda. The following year her Piano Classics debut of Debussy inspired no less glowing reviews. The sequel elegantly completes her recordings of the Préludes and Images with their second volumes, coupled with the more innocent pleasures of the Suite Bergamasque.

Thus the album spans Debussy’s first and punultimate published piano cycles, for while the Suite appeared in print only in 1905, it was composed back in 1890. In their titles, three of the four movements – a Prelude, Minuet and Passepied – invoke the formal elegance of a Baroque dance suite, but the elusive character and freedom of the music owes more to the poetry of Verlaine, who used the archaic ‘bergamasque’ term in his poem Clair de lune, which as the suite’s third movement became Debussy’s single greatest hit.

In both the Images and Préludes, Debussy invested their second volumes (composed in 1907 and 1912-13 respectively) with darker, gloomier tone-colours and higher contrasts with wild outbursts and even manic humour. The portraits of individual characters and landscapes are more sharply drawn, more charged with private intensity. They make accordingly greater demands upon the interpreter, nowhere more so than in the dark, wild magic of the ‘Feux d’artifice’ – Fireworks – which close out the Préludes.

The three Images in Book 2 are linked by their association with the Debussy’s friend Louis Laloy, and by extension with their mutual fascination with China and the alien world of East-Asian culture. The bells in ‘Cloches à travers les feuilles’ ring from the church in Laloy’s home-town; the title of ‘Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut’ was proposed by Laloy himself, and the goldfish – ‘Poissons d’or’ of the triptych’s final panel – swim and shimmer through much Chinese lacquer artwork.

Reviews for Volume 1: ‘This is an extremely attractive, satisfying recording of some very standard, very beloved repertoire.’ Fanfare

"In a world overflowing with Debussy piano discs, Alessandra Ammara proves there is room for more. Ammara has all the technique required for the Préludes; her greatest strength, though, is in the individual characterisation of each... This is an impeccably produced recording." (International Piano)

Alessandra Ammara, piano

Alessandra Ammara
Her superfine pianism is complemented by an uncanny insight into Ravel’s outwardly teasing and enigmatic surface. Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

La pianiste italienne pare certaines pièces d'une irrésistible sensualité: ses Jeux d'eau sonnent avec une profondeur de son digne de Perlemuter. Les planes sonores, formidablement mis en espace, impressionnent, comme la gamme dynamique du piano. Alain Lompech, Diapason

Ammara: Master of Moods. Alessandra Ammara expressively displayed refinement finger work and sensitivity in her treatment of each prelude. Undaunted and confident, young Italian pianist Alessandra Ammara offered a heartfelt interpretation. Chris Jasko, Washington Post

“...Ammara is a pianist of rare distinction, an artist who can capture the attention of an audience and take each listener on a memorable voyage into the deepest recesses of the art of music.“ –KENNETH DELONG, CALGARY HERALD–

Booklet for Debussy: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 2