If anyone harbors a heartfelt desire to play all 24 préludes by Claude Debussy in one sole evening, it is doubtlessly Jean-Yves Thibaudet, one of today’s most competent experts in French piano music. Debussy once stated that he would rather have been a painter than a composer. He succeeded in creating images of rêverie in his music, particularly in the Préludes, a series of musical tableaux he composed between 1909 and 1913. Thibaudet brings musical Impressionism to life with revelatory clarté and a multitude of timbres: the Préludes are thus the ideal score for this wizard at the keyboard, with his widely admired, sensitive piano touch. “The joy, brilliance, and musicality of his performance could not be missed”, wrote the New York Times in a rave review. “Every note he fashions is a pearl.”