Debussy: Twelve Etudes (Hooks I and Ii, Complete)

Charles Rosen is a pianist with the gift of being able to write about music as well as to play it. On this record his jacket notes discourse brilliantly on Debussy’s remarkable set of exercises for the fingers and the mind. And his performances of the pieces, whose prosaic titles— “Etude in Thirds,” “Etude in Fourths,” “Etude on Chromatic Steps,” and so forth — belie their variety and imaginativeness, have color and character. This is a piano recording with depth and thought as well as shimmering sound, the kind one plays over and over with rising interest and awareness.