Debussy: Préludes du 2e Livre, La Mer (transc. Debussy)

From the opening notes of “Brouillards”, it’s clear why Alexander Melnikov has chosen one of his own historic pianos for Debussy’s second volume of Préludes. His French Erard piano, from around 1885, possesses a chiming bass, a delicate yet resonant upper register and a warm middle. It’s ideal for music that so often requires a fine brushstroke. Melnikov obliges, playing with exquisite restraint, control and voicing as he whisks us to sun-drenched, humid India, the world of illustrator Arthur Rackham’s fairies and to a firework display, full of brilliant, nervous tension. Melnikov is joined by Olga Pashchenko for a thrilling performance of Debussy’s arrangement for four hands of his orchestral suite La Mer.