Debussy's Preludes on an 1873 Pleyel

Hiroko Sasaki's excellent period instrument Debussy Preludes Books I & II, performed on an 1873 Pleyel piano. Official link to album is here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ncaCuKo5ZE75c2NPWihaU3mgVpvQUJfG0

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is Jed Dissler, and welcome to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano

(00:15):
recordings.
I first heard about the pianist Hiroko Sasaki from my late friend and colleague Harris Goldsmith,
who wrote a rave review about her wild recital hall debut at Carnegie Hall.
In that review, he wrote, she is a most distinctive musician who knows how to fuse classical

(00:37):
understatement with a more romantic freedom.
Sometime around 14 or 15 years ago, Hiroko Sasaki discovered a piano built by the Playell
Company in 1873, and this instrument had been painstakingly restored by Clavier House in
New York City.

(00:59):
It's an instrument that does not have the huge dynamic range of a modern concert grand,
nor the rich and resonant bass notes that you would get on modern grands.
Yet it has a seemingly infinite capacity for nuance and tone color and degrees of touch.
Anyway, Hiroko Sasaki fell in love with this instrument.

(01:22):
I mean, can you blame her?
And she used it for her recordings of the Debussy Preludes, Books 1 and 2, recorded
in 2010 and released on the Piano Classics label.
I've posted several links where you can listen to these really remarkable interpretations.

(01:43):
I only just got hold of this disc and just started to get to know it, and I am so impressed.
What stands out for me is the freedom that Hiroko Sasaki brings to these frequently recorded
pieces.
She tends toward faster tempos than common, yet she never sounds hectic nor rushed.

(02:08):
For example, in the first prelude in Book 1, Danse de Delphes, her basic pulse is quite
flexible and she often breaks her hands, meaning that she will roll certain chords or she will
play the left hand slightly before the right hand.
But these liberties have a fluency and a sense of proportion that just draws you in and you

(02:34):
really can't stop listening.
And the second prelude's double notes just float off the page with no effort at all,
just so lightly.
And my goodness, what subtle gradations in tone and timbre she brings throughout that
famous Book 1 prelude, The Sunken Cathedral.

(02:55):
The dance of puck, which follows, goes like the proverbial wind.
It really has swing and swagger to it.
Maybe it's a little too fast, but I still enjoy it.
In Book 2, the first piece, Brouillard, often sounds like a big blur when other pianists
play it, but Hiroko Sasaki makes all of those intertwining textural levels very distinct

(03:23):
and individually characterized.
And the swirling passage work in Ondine and in the final prelude, Fue, d'artifice, rarely
have sounded so supple.
Also, the recorded sound is quite marvelous.
This production comes from the Academy of Arts and Letters in New York, which is a wonderful

(03:46):
venue for piano recordings.
And the producer and engineer was the legendary Judith Sherman.
And you know, if she's the producer, you know it's going to sound great.
So I would say that if you wanted to hear both books of Debussy's Preludes on a period
instrument played with individuality and imagination and world-class engineering, you've come to

(04:14):
the right disc.
I heartily recommend Hiroko Sasaki on the Piano Classics label.
This is Jed Dissler, and thank you for tuning in to the Piano Maven podcast.
And thanks for your support.
Please tell your fellow piano lovers about this podcast.
And I hope to be with you next time.

(04:35):
Take good care.