Hi doxy,
I liked your Cathedral rendition a lot! Excellent work!
In the opening chords in Phrygian mode, I liked your voicing of the top notes in the treble chords and the bottoms of the bass chords. Beautifully done! Starting at measure 7, I was just a little startled by the accents, as the dynamic is still pp. I play those more tenuto... but, I also realize that there were times when Debussy used the tenuto marking because of the limitations of existing musical notation, although he meant otherwise. Thus, I'm not at all critical of your choice there, as that interpretation can definitely be justified.
I was glad you kept the tempo of page 2 fairly consistent with page 1. We've all listened to or heard the story of how hurried it is on Debussy's own early piano role--but we also know about some of the weird things that could happen on those rolls, especially with panicky recording engineers prodding artists along. I believe you made the better choice there.
At the apparition of the cathedral, page 3, I believe you used sostenuto (middle) pedal for the lowest C pedal points. It works famously in your recording. And heck, if you don't employ that pedal there, where in the world would you use it?!
At the bottom of page 3, in my recording in Audition Room, I tried the Geiseking technique of "retaking the chords", so that at the pedal changes the faint echo of the chords is still extant. The compromise with that is the speed and dexterity required to pull it off expertly at tempo. In my case, I think I cheated a bit by slowing the tempo there ever so slightly to accommodate the shift of hand positions. I believe that you played it according to the score, which works equally well.
In the coda, there was wonderfully quiet equality of tone there in the chords.
In the UK, does the Durand Edition for Debussy still hold sway there? There are more recent editions, but I, for one, still like the tradition of playing from Durand.
This is a superior performance and recording. Great job!
Topic: Debussy La cathedrale engloutie from Book 1