Images

Debussy confidently wrote to his publisher Jacques Durand in August 1905:

“I believe – without unwarranted vanity – that these three pieces will prove to be good and that they will take a prominent place in the literature of piano music … to the left of Schumann or to the right of Chopin … as you like it”. Debussy’s “Images”, already popular during Debussy’s lifetime, delight with their iridescent tone colour and dazzling harmonies “which reflect the newest discoveries in harmonic chemistry”. The virtuosic second series is notated throughout on three staves.

In commemoration of Debussy’s 150th birthday, Bärenreiter is publishing an Urtext edition of these pieces reflecting the most recent scholarship and source analysis. Clear presentation, fingering by Tamara Stefanovich and valuable information on performance practice all offer optimal conditions for the study of the work.

Tamara Stefanovich

studied at the University of Belgrade, at the Curtis Institute of Music and at the “Hochschule für Musik und Tanz” in Cologne. She has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, the London Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir Jurowski and Pierre Boulez, and has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. She performed Debussy’s “Images I” and “II” in 2011 for the “Klavier-Festival Ruhr”. Together with Pierre- Laurent Aimard she prepared the fingering for the “Klavier-Festival Ruhr” Bärenreiter Piano Album (BA 9659).