Roberto Piana - Debussy Circle (Piano Music from the XIXth Century, France) (2018)

In a famous interview with Peter Bogdanovich, Orson Welles told of one of his most successful roles of his theatrical career, he played a highly feared and respected Chinese magician, without ever appearing until the last act. In the meantime everyone talked about him, everyone mentioned him and finally when he appeared all the audience shuddered because he became the protagonist without being so. What happens in “Debussy Circle” is no different. In the year of the Debussian celebrations all over the world (especially in France) will be performed plenty of pieces and Omnia everywhere. But how could Debussy have or could have been celebrated? Certainly honoured by the many performances, he would surely have liked to know that his legacy would not have died with him having contributed with his intuitions to the advancement of the human musical journey. The listening of this cd is very peculiar, it starts at the beginning of Debussy’s language, with the wonderful Etudes by Marmontel, legendary piano teacher and refined composer. […] (Translation by Christoph Lucchetti)