Debussy: Préludes, Book 1 & 2 – Angela Brownridge

   in Piano International (May, 2018)
Following on from her Chopin disc (reviewed in IP Jul/Aug 2017), Angela Brownridge has turned to Debussy with both books of Préludes. She contains these on a single disc and adds a vivacious account of L’isle joyeuse to boot (unlike Krystian Zimerman’s DG recording which ran to 84 minutes just for the Préludes across two mid-priced discs!)

This is a field crowded with excellent competitors: Zimerman, Osborne, Bavouzet. Brownridge’s interpretations are not quite in that league but she is preferable to Michel Dalberto’s Book II, which I reviewed in 2016. There is power in ‘La cathédrale engloutie’ and delicacy in ‘La fille aux cheveux de lin’and ‘Feuilles mortes’. Tempi are on …