Bax & Chung:

Debussy and Ravel for Two

Debussy: Petite suite; En blanc et noir; Ravel: La valse; Ma mère l’oye

Alessio Bax, Lucille Chung (piano) Signum Classics SIGCD787 73:57 mins This is all about pairings. Works for two pianists by a pair of French composers, Debussy and Ravel, are performed by the husband-and-wife partnership of Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung. The album is built around two substantive works from each composer. Ravel’s Ma mère l’oye and a two-piano arrangement of La valse sit alongside works from either end of Debussy’s creative life: the Petite suite and En blanc et noir. Bax and Chung combine clean articulation and vigour with a warm palette of sound. The swirling eddies of the Petite suite’s ‘En bateau’ are wonderfully limpid, the Scherzando from En blanc et noir scrunches along with insouciant verve and La valse swirls to its conclusion with aplomb. Nor are they afraid to experiment, giving greater emphasis to the lower voices in the central section of the ‘Laideronnette’ in Ma mère l’oye, emphasising its inspiration from Javanese gamelan. While the playing is beautiful, taking a little more time would periodically be welcome so that, rather than striding purposefully through, it is possible to enjoy the full shimmering wonder of Ravel’s fairy garden.

What marks this album out are the four Debussy favourites heard in less familiar guise, arrangements where another composer has added their perspective. Léon Roques’s duet versions of La fille aux cheveux de lin and the nonchalantly sultry slow waltz La plus que lente enrich the colours, while the additions of Dutilleux’s refined two-piano treatment of Clair de lune are sensed more than heard. Unsurprisingly, Ravel’s imaginative approach to capturing the essence of Prélude a l’après-midi d’un faune in duet form is especially revelatory, a highlight in a thoroughly enjoyable album.

PERFORMANCE ★★★★

RECORDING ★★★★