ANNE QUEFFELEC – DEBUSSY: 12 ETUDES (LP VINYL)

“Both a challenge and an adventure, the recording I made of Debussy’s Etudes lives on as a wonderful memory,” writes the admired French pianist Anne Queffelec. “Taking the genre beyond the dry term ‘study’, Debussy and Chopin, both true geniuses, dazzle and move their listeners. Within this music lies life, anything but abstract.”

Queffelec, who comes from a distinguished literary family, trained in Paris and Vienna. Gramophone magazine has described her recordings as “Outstanding … thoughtful, poetic …” and “Articulate, clear-textured and vivacious …” She recorded Debussy’s 12 Etudes in 1980 at the Musee Guimet in Paris with Catherine Collard as her producer. The venue was appropriate, since it is dedicated to Asian culture: Japanese visual art and Indonesian gamelan music were both significant inspirations in Debussy’s evolution as a composer.