Debussy and Rameau

Vikingur Olafsson has recorded a new album featuring pieces by Claude Debussy and Jean-Philippe Rameau. The pairing might seem off, if it wasn't for both composers being French, and too, that Debussy in 1905 wrote a piece entitled Hommage à Rameau (the piece appears as the last track on the album).

Pieces by Debussy include:

• Jardins sous la pluie,
• Sereande for the Doll,
• The Snow is Dancing, &
• Ondine
• Images - Hommage à Rameau

My ownership of Debussy's music is scant, and I mean that in two terms, what discs I own and what knowledge I possess. I never found Debussy's music for piano to be offensive; at best, I found it clever, in terms of his harmonic progressions and the ways in which he captured mood.

I am far more familiar with the music of Rameau; his solo pieces dominate, along with a couple from the Pièces en concerts: La Cupis, L'indiscrète, and La Rameau. While there have been recordings of his music of late on piano, I'm biased toward performances on harpsichord.

This recording is crystal clear and the sound, I think, is ideal. Ideal for me because I can't remember Debussy played this cleanly; the Rameau is super precise. Which speaks to Mr. Olafsson's style, which I think is remarkably satisfying. The baroque pieces are played tightly, complete with ornaments, with subtle but detectable shape and dynamics that supports the music. It could detract from it, but instead his performances here support the music. It's the best possible world when interpreting Baroque music on piano at a time when using historical instruments has become the norm.

Counter to the Rameau is the Debussy, which while a smaller contribution on the recording, Olafsson takes a wider view of the piano's dynamic possibilities. It's well done.

So the question should remain: do the soundworlds of Debussy and Rameau belong together—on disc, or on a concert? And does Olafsson do something to make the two work together?

For me, the harmony and structure of the baroque pieces are like concentrated coffee. It's a lot of coffee in a short amount of time. The Debussy is a coffee drink, perhaps (same piano, same performer, same performance space), but it's cooler, it's far more dilute, the glass full of milky foam. The taste of coffee is present, but the experience, all together, is something different.

As it turns out I like my regular coffee. The Debussy, for me, helps us avoid total caffeine overload. Programmatically, for a concert, it's a challenge for the listener, I think, but a challenge, nevertheless, interesting in its novelty and result.

This is a superb disc of music making.