May 2019
Excellent first reviews of ‘Pour le tombeau de Claude Debussy’
Since its release on March 8th pianist Judith Jáuregui’s new album “Pour le tombeau de Claude Debussy” is enjoying a very warm reception from different cultural and musical publications across Europe.Recorded live at the Imperial in Concert cycle in Vienna, this album portrays the figure of Debussy through two of his fundamental works as well as those of other composers who can be said to be artistically related to him:Falla, Liszt, Chopin and Mompou.This album is the first collaboration of the Spanish pianist with the German label Ars Produktion.
The German musical magazine Klassik Heute declares that “this compilation is especially attractive and above all, makes sense, because the context of the music of Debussy and its evolution are presented in an extremely audible way. Jáuregui signs with the necessary aplomb when required – for example in Liszt – and marvellously paints polychrome images on the white and black keys of the piano, such as in Jardins sous la pluie by Debussy. She does so with pianistic sovereignty and the crystalline sharpness. A clear attack, concise but sensitive with an expressiveness of great taste. In conclusion: this album is worthwhile, both in terms of its programme as well as musically.”
Following the presentation concert in Berlin the musical magazine Online Merker defined Judith as a “poetess at the keyboard and a dreamer of sound”, highlighting that “what characterises Jáuregui is the uncontainable desire of a specific narrative, of the here and now, but also the constant risk of the pianissimos and the fineness of the phrasing, which seems to be woven with silk. It is then that her art becomes watermark poetry that shines with its own light”.
In the words of Kulturtipp, a Swiss cultural publication, this album is “a real and enriching musical lesson”. The weekly Austrian publication Der Falter describes this as a “fortunate album, with Jáuregui’s wonderful touch and works that here sound as if they had been composed together.”
For the musical magazine The New Listener, Jáuregui “surprises with an unusually extrovert Debussy, different to that we have in our memory and which works. Pagodes is impressive, with its enormous richness of colours and precise sound. La soirée Dans Grenade is immediately evocative of the memory of the piece by Falla - that can be listened to at the beginning of the album - and in Jardins sous la pluie we can literally listen to the drops of water, giving us the opportunity to listen to the piece with all our senses. L’isle joyeuse, with its bubbly energy and happy humour fit perfectly in this style, and the result is source of freshness that is evocative of a passion for travel.”