Debussy: Etudes, Images - Bartok: 3 Studies, Improvisations - Haydn: Piano Sonata nr. 20

More great and hitherto unknown music is coming my way. Yesterday we went to another concert at the Conservatoire in Brussels featuring Jean-Efflam Bavouzet on piano. Bavouzet has recently made a name for himself with a series of Haydn and Debussy recordings on the Chandos label. Particularly the Debussy recordings have met with critical acclaim. The programme for this concert was most judiciously put together. First a 'Sturm und Drang' Haydn sonata (nr .20, from 1771), followed by Debussy's brief Hommage à Haydn on a BADDG (= HAYDN) motif. Then Book II of the Images for piano. After the break a switch to two works from Bartok's violent middle period: the Improvisations on Hungarian Folk Songs, and the Three Studies. Back to Debussy with a selection from the late Etudes. Altogether a very challenging programme, certainly for the performer but also for the listener.

Earlier in the week I had prepared for the concert somewhat as I had never heard the Etudes. HVC had recently drawn my attention to them. Prior to our conversation I didn't even know they existed. But once I realised that they sprung from the same miraculous 1915 summer in Pourville that yielded the Cello Sonata and the Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp, I looked forward to getting to know them with keen anticipation. There are not that many recordings around and I settled on the celebrated 1989 performance by Mitsoku Uchida. I was immediately struck by the immense power that radiates from the music. The Etudes' surface is all glitter and charm, but as in all the late works there is a steeliness and stoicism at the core that is humbling. The spirit of Chopin hovers over this whole work, which is not surprising as Debussy had been trying to deal with his own creative impasse and depression (due to illness and war) by working on an edition of the former's work. In the Etudes his affection for the Polish master blends with his reverence for the French baroque tradition. I'm only at the beginning of getting to know this impressive body of work. It's all one can wish for in a piece of music: complex, layered, abstract, truly epic. From what I have heard it may well be Debussy's very best work. In my mind this man continues to grow and grow in stature. 

I have also been listening to the Images, but only briefly. Book I, with its more abstract qualities (Hommage à Rameau, Mouvement) seemed to be more interesting to me than Book II which leans more towards the impressionist Preludes.

The concert itself did maybe not totally fulfill the expectations. It did not produce the sense of occassion experienced, for example, with the Belcea Quartet recently. Bavouzet is no doubt a fine pianist and technically up to the formidable task he set himself. But what I missed was that clarity of line and sharpness of contour that I think is needed in these three composers. In my experience the whole programme coalesced somewhat into a blur. Whether it was early Haydn, middle-period Bartok or middle or late Debussy did not seem to matter too much. Overall there was this sameness of feeling, a certain lack of structure and relief, a homogeneity of texture that kept us, listeners, from getting to that point where you can see the music as it were from above, in three dimensions. We didn't get there this time. But it's always enjoyable to spend an evening in the Conservatoire. The acoustics are good, the seats comfy, the hall suprisingly well heated, the audience always attentive. This time the hall was only half full. Amazing, isn't it?