The process of recording has an almost grueling intensity which adds another dimension to a performer’s search for the music’s essence. The notion of music being “frozen architecture” becomes even more meaningful when we deal with recorded music. We try, perhaps in vain, to capture the ineffable. Isn’t that what great music does? Debussy takes an ordinary moment, a “cell” of life, as in a hint at the Marseillaise in the final Prelude, and imbues it with a sense of eternity and otherworldly significance. Debussy himself is “recording” human experience, revealing veiled messages ranging from bemused comedy to the shards of a shattered universe. Ever fascinating and often terrifying…
Tracklist
Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.Total time: 00:36:58
Additional information
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | WVK002 |
| Qualities | |
| Channels | |
| Artists | |
| Composers | |
| Genres | |
| Digital Converters | Horus |
| Mastering Engineer | Robert Friedrich—Five/Four Productions |
| Microphones | Sanken CO100 |
| Mixing Board | Millenia Mix Suite |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Producer | Thomas C. Moore – Five/Four Productions |
| Recording Engineer | Robert Friedrich—Five/Four Productions |
| Recording location | The New York Academy of Arts and Letters |
| Recording Software | Merging |
| Recording Type & Bit Rate | DSD256 |
| Release Date | August 26, 2016 |
Press reviews
Stereophile
I finished my listening to this admittedly super-expensive system with a live DSD 256 recording of a Debussy piece by Russian pianist Ilya Itin decoded by the Merging Technologies Merging+NADAC DAC — Double wow!!
Positive Feedback
An acid test! If you want to see how your system really handles a recording of performing brilliance and extraordinary dynamics, then Ilya Itin, a Steinway Contract Artist, recorded directly to Quad DSD by the team of Thom Moore and Robert Friedrich will certainly do it!
The quiet passages are amazing, but the occasional thunderous moments will knock you back in your seat! This is one of the most fantastic piano recordings that I know of, combining Debussy (another favorite of mine) with an artist whose interpretation of the Preludes has become my current ne plus ultra. If you don’t have this recording in its native Quad DSD, then you are missing out quite seriously, amigo!
Can’t handle Quad DSD? Then get yourself a Quad DSD DAC!
Daily Telegraph, London
Itin’s is a rare and exciting artistry indeed…poised, pure, and ravishing in its range of color, Itin’s playing is a prime example of a superb technique put at the service of an inquiring and imaginative mind.
Living The Classical Life
I don’t think I shall soon hear a greater performance of Debussy in my life.
Positive Feedback
My conclusion? Simple, really: The Wave Kinetics Records two-album set is truly the finest, most right-on performance of Debussy’s Preludes I have ever heard, with the most outstanding production and audio engineering of a solo piano that I’ve ever experienced. Frankly, I consider it to be worthy of a The GRAMMYs Award, for both its performance and for its production values. I hope that Wave Kinetics Records pursues this recognition for its sterling work here.
Regardless of whether you’re listing to Ilya Itin’s Debussy Preludes on a major full-range system, or via headphones, or anything in between, you’ll hear what I mean. This is a true world-class reference album, a modern classic in our own time.
Those of you who have Quad DSD playback will definitely want to add this to your collection; you’ll listen to it again and again. Debussy lovers, attention: Ilya Itin is a brilliant artist!
And if you don’t have Quad DSD playback capabilities yet, what the hell are you waiting for?! Given the proliferation of Quad DSD playback over the past several years, there is no excuse for you live without this supreme audiophile reference format. These two album downloads all by themselves justify making an upgrade…but there are many more Quad DSD recordings available now, as well.
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