DEBUSSY IBERIA LONDON CS-6013 ARGENTA OSR last copy!

“And the blind shall see” – promising words indeed! And very apt to describe the impressionist tonal paintings of Claude Debussy, who exchanged the paintbrush for a pen and the canvas for manuscript paper. Debussy’s musical tools were not so much the etching-needle or sharp pencil but rather more a rich variety of glorious paints on his palette and thick brushes and sponges to form flowing figures and shapes on his musical canvas. With the Images pour Orchestre, the art lover possesses three of the mature composer’s most important musical paintings to hang in his gallery. Thanks to its rhythmic and melodic structure, Ibéria is very probably the most striking of these three studies. The impressionistic, frazzled theme is lent substance through the familiar sounds and rhythms of Spanish folk music; Debussy conjures up the moods and impressions of a landscape which he himself hardly knew. And should the listener not be in a position to wander the streets and pathways, to breathe the perfume of the night, nor to enjoy a fiesta morning, then this record will certainly enable him to “see” all this for himself.

This Speakers Corner production was manufactured 100% analogously, with the use of the analogue mastertape and analogue mastering. All royalties and mechanical rights have been paid.

Recording: May 1957 at Victoria Hall, Geneva by Roy Wallace

Production: James Walker

Debussy: Images pour Orchestre “Gigues”, “Ibéria” and “Rondes de Printemps”

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Ataúlfo Argenta