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Cutting Brilliance (with a few quirks): Jumppanen’s Debussy Préludes

Jed Distler

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

From an engineering standpoint, Debussy’s Préludes rarely have sounded so good as they do here. The combination of a warm, resonant acoustic (Hamburg’s Friedrich-Ebert Halle), carefully considered microphone placement, and what seems to be a well regulated concert grand make everything in these scores clearly audible. What is more, they allow pianist Paavali Jumppanen’s masterful technical control, subtle command of the pedal, and finely honed dynamic gradations and nuances the breathing room that this music requires, as well as addressing Debussy’s oft-quoted “piano without hammers” aesthetic.

In Book I, Jumppanen captures the first piece’s floating gravitas. He keeps Voiles’ static whole-tone harmonies interesting and mobile by taking Debussy’s specific “Cédez” calibrations on faith; Jumppanen understands that they demarcate cadential points. Although Le vent dans la plaine’s sextuplet patterns are amazingly even and “légèrement”, Jumppanen’s efficiency misses Paul Jacobs’ murmuring suggestiveness. By contrast, Jumppanen’s breadth and flexibility in Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir positively seduces, while Les collines d’Anacapri intriguingly veers between vehemence in the fast section and the “modéré” opening motif seeming to vibrate for eternity. By contrast, Des pas sur la neige is bleak and severe rather than sad, yet there’s plenty of color via Jumppanen’s intelligent voice leading and dynamic scaling.

Jumppanen matches Steven Osborne’s reference-setting textural acuity in Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest, albeit with weightier tone in the slashing arpeggios. Perhaps Jumppanen’s measured tread through No. 8 suggests an old woman looking back on her life rather than an innocent flaxen-haired girl, yet certain details make the hairs on my neck stand up, such as the pianist slightly desynchronizing his hands at the transition into the upward scale at measure 12. I also like the pianist’s combination of understatement and rhythmic snap throughout La sérénade interrompue’s guitar-inspired staccatos and alternating chords.

La cathédrale engloutie unfolds on a large scale; listen to Jumppanen’s sonority gloriously open up as he proudly declaims the descending left-hand lines at measure 20. And at measure 22 he accelerates the tempo twice as fast, following the example of Debussy’s piano roll recording. Quite a few pianists do that, of course, although a few holdouts opt for what Debussy notated instead of what he likely meant (Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Jean-Rudolphe Kars, for example). Again, momentary details startle you in La Danse de Puck (the tangy grace notes and caustic accents) and Minstrels (the “nervously” varied cakewalking gruppetti).

Préludes Book II similarly abounds with revelations, such as Brouillards uncommonly clear and differentiated textural strands, the marked contrast between La Puerta del Vino’s sultry embellished chords and firmly held habanera ostinato, the fourth piece’s feathery yet staggeringly focused arpeggios. Notice the upbeat swagger and outsized accents in Général Lavine’s eccentric dance, and No. 7’s curvy phrasing. To my ears, however, Jumppanen overdoes Ondine’s staccatos and sudden crescendos; we want a sexy water nymph, not a shrewish harpy! By contrast, the pianist’s over-the-top contrasts entirely befit No. 9, from his King Kong-like “God Save the King” quote at the start to the dotted-notes’ unbridled momentum. In Canope, Jumppanen figuratively rubs your nose in the clash between C-natural and C-sharp in measure seven, while dispatching No. 11’s alternating thirds and No. 12’s allusions to firework displays with cutting brilliance.

For the most part, Jumppanen’s Children’s Corner is chaperoned by a questionable baby sitter. His fanciful phrasing in the Children’s Corner’s opening salvo Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum is too self aware for its own good. Jimbo’s Lullaby is full of mystery and tension, although Serenade for a Doll sounds heavy and literal when heard alongside Seong-Jin Cho’s lighter, more disarming recent version on DG. While Jumppanen imparts a lovely “minimalist” shimmer to The Snow is Dancing, The Little Shepherd’s plaintive melody droops instead of lilts–no match for Stephen Hough’s more imaginative reading. Lastly, Jumppanen’s cakewalking Golliwog is alternately bossy and prissy, akin to character actors Gale Gordon or Billy de Wolfe, rather than Warner Bros. cartoon icon Michigan J. Frog!

Overall, Ondine’s specially priced edition of the Préludes ranks within spitting distance of the aforementioned Osborne and Jacobs references, with the antipodal Catherine Kaustky (Centaur) and Jean-Rudolphe Kars (Decca/Eloquence) close at hand–and, as always, Walter Gieseking (Warner Classics).


Recording Details:

Reference Recording: Preludes Books I & II: Jacobs (Nonesuch); Osborne (Hyperion), Children's Corner Suite: Bavouzet (Chandos)

    Soloists: Paavali Jumppanen (piano)

  • Record Label: Ondine - 13042
  • Medium: CD

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