MPS - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl - AAA 100% Analogue

Pressed in Germany - Limited Edition 

AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only, from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head

The 24 Préludes describe the most famous cycle of Impressionist composer Claude Debussy. The compositions are full of magic, poetry and painting. His request "to breathe with the pedal" is perfect for Friedrich Gulda. The striking art of the pianist elicits from Debussy's works exactly what the composer wanted: loud passages are brutally transposed, pianissimo passages seem so intimate and close that one's own heartbeat looks like a barrage. To cope with this perfection, the recording also appears in the highest sound quality on audiophile vinyl.

Gulda, the rebel pianist, shared a great admiration for Debussy's music. Already in the 1940s he proved with the recordings of L'isle joyeuse and Reflets dans L'eau his unerring sense for the music of the composer. The pianist was very much concerned with Debussy's harmonic explorations, so that, for example, in Gulda's own composition The Air from other Planets, one hears a relationship in harmony. The intense study of jazz on the one hand, and Claude Debussy on the other hand, fertilized Gulda's work equally, so that she had an impact on the interpretation of the préludes, especially in terms of rhythm, and gave the recording reference status.

The preferred miking near the strings in the MPS recording studio in Villingen in 1969 also strengthened Debussy's requirements. Under the direction of Willi Fruth and Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer, the intentional intimacy is reinforced that it is best to play some of these pieces in private. These recordings have been restored and remastered by the mastering engineer Christoph Stickel, who specializes in audiophile reconditioning and restoration, in a purely analogue and remastered manner, so that the unique sound of the recording, which is strongly related to Gulda's interpretation, is preserved. A reference product!