Debussy: Hommage Azumi Nishizawa

• Claude Debussy (1862-1918):
• 1 L'isle joyeuse, L. 106 06:14
• 2 Children's Corner, L. 113: VI. Golliwogg's Cake-Walk 03:08
• 3 Préludes, Book 1, L. 117: No. 10, La cathédrale engloutie 06:58
• 4 Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, L. 86 (Arr. for Piano) 09:58
• 5 Préludes, Book 2, L. 123: No. 3, La puerta del vino 03:38
• 6 Suite bergamasque, L. 75: III. Clair de lune 05:28
• 7 Estampes, L. 100: No. 2, La soirée dans Grenade 05:58
• Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909):
• 8 Iberia, Book 3, T. 105: I. El Albaicín 07:51
• 9 Suite española No. 1, Op. 47, T. 61: I. Granada (Serenata) 05:35
• Federico Mompou (1893-1987):
• 10 Canción y danza No. 6 04:04
• Enrique Granados (1867-1916):
• 11 12 Danzas españolas, Op. 37: No. 5, Andaluza 04:14
• 12 Goyescas, Book 1: No. 4, Quejas, ó la maja y el ruiseñor 06:31
• Manuel de Falla (1876-1946):
• 13 La vida breve: Danse espagnole No. 1 (Version for Piano) 03:29
• 14 Homenaje "Le tombeau de Claude Debussy" (Version for Piano) 03:12
• Total Runtime 01:16:18

Info for Debussy: Hommage

Fascinating journey through the music that unites Debussy with Spanish composers. Places are sounds: Granada. The city was a recurring source of inspiration for Debussy, and yet the composer never visited it; his knowledge of it was gained only indirectly through literary accounts, images, and musical sources heard in Paris. All of these materials served to unleash his imagination in regard to its sound, which according to Falla represented ‘the truth without authenticity, as not a single note is borrowed from Spanish folklore and yet, even in its smallest details, it wonderfully expresses Spain’. A common element links all the composers in the present program: the city of Paris. From the end of the nineteenth to the early twentieth century, the French capital was a fundamental goal for many Spanish composers, who at some point in their lives went there for study or work purposes.

Azumi Nishizawa, piano

Azumi Nishizawa
Born in Tokyo in Japan, Azumi Nishizawa is at this time considered one of the finest Japanese pianists. She studied with Michiko Okamoto and Ikuyo Kamiya at the Toho Gakuen Conservatory of Music in Tokyo, and was subsequently selected as an outstanding pupil by the famous French pianist and pedagog Dominique Merlet at the Geneva Conservatory, where she won First Prize for Virtuosity. During that period, she won many international competitions in Japan and Europe. She began her solo career in 2002 offering concerts in the main music halls in France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Japan and China.

In addition to several Japanese tours, she is a regular guest at a number of international music festivals including the Societe des Artes in Geneva (Switzerland), the International Chopin Festival en Paris, the Kyoto Music Festival, the Spring Music Festival in Vicenza, Summer Classics in Madrid, the Torreciudad Festival in Huesca, Encuertros Manuel De Falla in Granada, Music Festival in Jaen, and International Music and Dance Festival of Ubeda.

She has in parallel taken an interest in the performance of chamber music, playing among others with the Suisse Romande Orchestra’s leaders the Suisse Romande Wind Quintet’, the Cuarteto Assai string quartet and musicians of international standing such as the Portuguese trumpeter Jorge Almeida and the Japanese saxophonist Nobuya Sugawa, with whom she has played, as Yamaha artist, memorable concerts in the main European capitals. Her chamber music experience led to an interest in playing Baroque music on the harpsichord, collaborating in the early music project Extravaganza with the flautist Mariano Martin.

She also participated and acted in the film Fukumimi (2003) made by the Japanese director Chisui Takigawa. She has since 2004 been guest Lecturer of honour at Shanghai Normal University in China, and has since 2006 complemented this teaching with concerts and master-classes as artist of the firm Yamaha in Spain and Portugal.

In spring 2010 she brought out an album, the Complete Piano Works of Manuel de Falla. This project also sparked interest and subsequent sponsorship from Heineken, who for the first time wished to participate in the bringing out of a classical CD. A debut hearing followed at the Manuel de Falla Auditorium in the Spanish city of Granada, to wide acclaim from critics and public alike. There followed a five-date tour in Japan – comprising three concerts in Toyko and a further two in Kyoto while the CD was rated by Japanese music critics as one of the best CDs to come out that year.

In May 2012 she performed at the Festival de Ubeda in Spain, while earning impressive reviews for her recently released CD Falla: Complete Piano Transcriptions which rounds out her previous offerings of material by the composer. These two recordings constitute reference points in the interpretation of Spanish music.

Booklet for Debussy: Hommage