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Debussy: Piano Duets

Louis Lortie, Hélène Mercier (piano) (Chandos)

Our rating

3

Published: October 4, 2022 at 2:50 pm

Debussy Piano Duets – Petite Suite; Première Arabesque; Epigraphes antiques; La mer; Ballade slave etc Louis Lortie, Hélène Mercier (piano) Chandos CHAN 20228 81:24 mins

Piano duets were central to music-making in Debussy’s time. They were the only way to encounter much repertoire and this generously filled new disc from Hélène Mercier and Louis Lortie gives some sense of the genre’s range of uses within Debussy’s repertoire. The two substantive works written specifically for piano duet, the Petite Suite and Six Épigraphes Antiques, face stiff competition, not least from Steven Osborne and Paul Lewis’s outstanding recent album of French duets (Hyperion). While they have their own charms, Mercier and Lortie fall some way short. Fussiness upsets the easy-going insouciance of the Petite Suite, the genial boat trip of ‘En bateau’ encountering decidedly choppy waters. It is an impression compounded by the piano often sounding veiled and a touch podgy.

Fortunately, the broader vistas of La mer fare much better, heard here not in Debussy’s own duet arrangement, but the more intricate two-piano transcription made by his close colleague André Caplet. Mercier and Lortie nuance each detail while maintaining an eye on the sweeping seascapes.

Of the five shorter works, three are transcriptions of solo works, namely the Ballade slave, La fille aux cheveux de lin and Premier arabesque. They are interesting only in confirming the adage of too many cooks spoiling the broth, the additional pair of hands hampering Debussy’s solo writing. The Marche Ecossaise and Andante cantabile are genuine duets, though the latter is, puzzlingly, played on two pianos. Nonetheless, it is a charming performance amidst an otherwise mixed bag.

Christopher Dingle

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