Thibaudet Plays Debussy With a Passion
/By Truman C. Wang
12/1/2021
The late Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink, interviewed by Hans Haffman in 2019, expressed his fondness for the Debussy Préludes recording by Krystian Zimerman, citing its magical colors and crystalline textures. Although there were many similar qualities in Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s playing last night at the Disney Hall (12/1/2021), they seemed variable and uneven but got better as the evening progressed.
Debussy’s Préludes were never meant to be played in complete sets. Even the composer himself played only 3 or 4 pieces at a time. Chopin’s 24 Preludes form a natural arc connecting the No. 1 in C-Major to the stormy No. 24 in D-Minor. Debussy’s, in contrast, if played whole, can feel disjointed and unsustainable, its scintillating ‘fireworks’ ending notwithstanding.
In the 24 Préludes of Book 1, Thibaudet produced some marvelous sonorities in “Voiles” and “Des pas sur la neige”, even injecting the impressionist-colored “Hills of Anacapri [in Sicily]” with heated Latin passion. The Brigadoon-like “La cathédrale engloutie” raised and lowered itself from the sea with monumental brilliance. In Book 2, Thibaudet again showed his unfaltering control of texture and sonority, in “Ondine” and “Feuilles mortes”. Elsewhere, the pianist was content to let the shutter open wide, over-exposing certain pieces for dramatic, flashy effects.
If romanticism and passion don’t always work too well in Debussy, they made for a perfect encore in Elgar’s Salut d’Amore, sending everyone home happily with a warm glow.
Truman C. Wang is Editor-in-Chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily. He studied Integrative Biology and Music at U.C. Berkeley.