This week a CD with live recordings of Claude Debussy's "Etudes", played by pianist Theo Bruins, who died in 1993, is being offered by the Arsis label. The recordings were made in the Concertgebouw by the VARA ("Livre 1", recording 1981) and the KRO ("Livre 2", recording 1987) respectively. Theo Bruins was a pianist praised for his precision and lived interpretations. He also strived to break the
… boundaries between old and new music. On his programs he therefore combined music by Schumann and Debussy with Berio, or Beethoven and Ravel with Boulez. Highlights were his renditions of Beethoven's "Diabelli Variations" and Debussy's "Etudes". (HJ) _more
