DEBUSSY: 12 Études. SZYMANOWSKI: Études Op. 33 / Julian Riem, pno / TYXart TXA 18100
Here is a recording of Debussy’s late Études, his most modern, difficult and unpopular music, along with Szymanowski’s similar set of 12 pieces. What’s interesting about them is that they were written only one year apart, the Debussy in 1915 and the Szymanowski in 1916, at which point the former composer was still alive (though becoming quite ill).
What one hears in these performances of the Debussy, in particular, is an energetic interpretation in which Julian Riem revels in the music’s oddities, producing quite dynamic and exciting performances. I would place them very near the high level of Michael Korstick’s recordings on SWR Music 19044, a disc to which I gave a rave review when it first came out. The principal difference is that Korstick used some subtle rubato in places, whereas Riem seems to be keeping much stricter time. But he’s definitely a fine pianist; not only is his digital dexterity amazing in the sixth étude (“for eight fingers”), but he articulates the music properly despite his racing tempo.
In both these Études and his late ballet music for Jeux, not to mention the unfinished fragments of his Poe-inspired opera The Devil in the Belfry, one hears a different Debussy, one who was breaking free of the floating impressionism that had been his hallmark for two decades and which made his name. Of course, there were moments even in the Preludes for Orchestra, particularly in Ibéria, and in La Mer that were outward, energetic music, but these late works are even more so. He was somewhat influenced by the music of his new friend, Igor Stravinsky, to write in a more vivid and angular style with bolder dissonances than before.
Szymanowski’s Études are likewise more outward-looking music than was usual for him, despite the fact that they were dedicated to Alfred Cortot, the famous French pianist. They also tend to be shorter works than the Debussy sets, lasting between 53 seconds and 2:04 long, most of them averaging about a minute and 15 seconds. Riem also plays these in a very exciting, outward fashion, and in doing so helps to bring out their structure quite well. He particularly revels in the quirky rhythms of the ninth étude, marked “Animato,” and can really play those complex eighth-note chords in the last one, “Presto energico.” (I wonder if Cortot even liked them; to the best of my knowledge, he certainly never performed them.)
A very exciting and fun disc for lovers of “modern” (i.e., anything that has advanced harmonies, even if it’s more than a century old) piano music.
—© 2019 Lynn René Bayley
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