The year 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of Claude Debussy’s death in 1918, and The Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler has been marking this milestone on his ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys.
“A few months back we played all twelve Debussy Preludes Book I, allotting each Prelude to a different pianist. For this week’s show, however, I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast how two pianists approach the same work.
“For example, how do Angela Hewitt and Seong-Jin Cho compare in Doctor Gradus Ad Parnassum from The Children’s Corner? What about Walter Gieseking versus Arthur Rubinstein in Ondine from Preludes Book II? Such close-up comparative listening has always fascinated me, and I hope that listeners will indulge my obsession!”