Claude Debussy – Daniel Barenboim

   in Piano International (May, 2018)
Born in 1942, the conductor and pianist Barenboim has always been an explainer, as well as performer, of music. This release coincides with a DVD (EuroArts) entitled Daniel Barenboim plays and explains Les Préludes, in case further explications are needed. Prominent on this CD is a quote from the maestro: ‘Debussy’s sources of inspiration were literature and nature’, which, if unobjectionable, is hardly novel or revelatory.

Through a long, abundant recording career, Barenboim has proven an uneven interpreter of Chopin, and one wonders if this precedent is ideal for venturing into the world of Debussy, who learned much from Chopin. There are many caveats about the playing heard here, starting …