Renaud Capuçon, Bertrand Chamayou, Gérard Caussé, Emmanuel Pahud, Marie-Pierre Langlamet, Edgar Moreau - Debussy: Sonatas & Trios (2017) [CD Rip]

The program for this album of Debussy's chamber music is unusual: except for the enchanting Syrinx, for solo flute, all the pieces are written in the classical chamber music forms. Only in the realm of chamber music did Debussy do this, and hearing a group of such works together on the same bill is of considerable interest. Here Debussy could not get away without modulating, but the balance among texture, harmonic field, and fixed, sonata-like forms shift in fascinating ways. The program doesn't allow a single instrumentalist to come to the fore, but perhaps this is for the good. All of these pieces are late Debussy works. The three works designated as sonatas were part of the unfinished Six Sonatas for Various Instruments, and they may be regarded as individual explorations of a larger theme; the performances here are consistent and attractive. Sample the Sonata for flute, viola, and harp, both for the delightfully unpredictable harp part and its graceful realization by Marie-Pieere Langlamet, and for the superlative engineering work in Paris' Salle Colonne (the Cello Sonata, Violin Sonata, and Piano Trio were recorded elsewhere, but the level is uniformly high and the sound consistent). Highly recommended. -- James Manheim