“I am so impressed…what stands out is the freedom Hiroko Sasaki brings to these frequently-recorded pieces, with a seemingly infinite capacity for nuance and tone color... these liberties have a fluency and the sense of proportion that just draws you in and you really can’t stop listening!”
“Flowed off the page with no effort at all just so lightly, and my goodness what subtle gradations and tone and timbres she brings throughout”
Debussy : Preludes, Book I & II
Hiroko Sasaki – Pleyel 1873
Released by: Piano Classics
When pianist Hiroko Sasaki was looking for an instrument to record the Debussy Preludes on, she happened to spot a strange looking instrument, which turned out to be a Pleyel concert grand built in 1873, and she instantly fell in love with it. The piano, built in a beautifully ornamented harpsichord case, offers her the special sonorities, dynamics and colors that she thinks are essential in Debussy, who himself owned a Pleyel piano, his favorite instrument.
Excerpt from Book I
V. Les collines d'Anacapri (The hills of Anacapri - アナカプリの丘)
Excerpt from Book II
VII. La terrasse des clair de lune (Terrace for Moonlight audiences - 月の光が降り注ぐテラス）
“(4 out of 5 stars) [A] beautiful sound Debussy would have recognized.”
“exquisite proportion, rare poetic understatement, and a connoisseur’s in-depth grasp of many unusual textual options.”
