Debussy: Images in Bloomington, MN

Little on this album, except for the early but absolutely characteristic
Tarantelle styrienne
(do they dance the tarantella in Styria?) and perhaps the
Nocturne in D flat major, L. 82
, is anything other than familiar, and the
Images
are among the most well-trodden
Debussy
of all. Yet even crowded
shelves and hard drives should make a place for this release by pianist
Saskia Giorgini
, which rightly made classical best-seller charts in the summer of 2024.
Giorgini
is known as a
Liszt
specialist, and she brings something of that specialty to this collection of
works. This is not to say that there are any
histrionics here. Quite the opposite: her
is on the restrained side and only lightly atmospheric, but she has the chops to clarify the deep counterpoint in
's writing without losing spontaneity and sparkle. Sample almost anywhere, but the neo-classic pieces of
Pour le piano
or the
Hommage à Rameau
from the
make her talents especially clear.
is alert to small expressive touches like the presence of Indonesian gamelan influences in
L'isle joyeuse
and other pieces, but she has a clear sense of the through-line in each piece. The sound from the Lisztzentrum Raiding in Austria picks up all of the considerable levels of detail in these interpretations, which are wonderful
, indeed. ~ James Manheim