It was in French music that I first heard and admired Gordon Fergus-Thompson in 1986 and I am delighted that his playing of Debussy is now on disc, the present ones being Vols. 4 and 5 of a complete Debussy issue, of which previous discs were reviewed earlier this year, in May and July. The performances of the little Arabesques are charming, with the right kind of pianistic caressing, never so much as to deprive them of their youthful freshness. The Images oubliees of 1894 are also early Debussy, and because he left them unpublished and instead drew upon them for familiar later pieces they make for slightly curious listening; but playing such as this shows us that they deserve their place in the Debussy canon. Another early work is the Suite bergamasque, and here too I admire alert and sensitive playing, although there are other ways to approach ''Clair de lune'', here taken so slowly as to be much the longest piece of the four. The two books of Preludes are beautifully done. Their sound world is highly individual and needs fine fingerwork at all dynamic levels together with instinctive, flexible pedalling and the kind of keen pianistic response that makes for a feeling of spontaneity—all of which they get here, along with a first-rate instrument and an excellent atmospheric recording. The highest compliment I can pay to the pianist and ASV is to say that for most of the time I have simply been able to enjoy the music—and what marvellous music it is, culminating here in a commanding, atmospheric ''Feux d'artifice''.
Criticisms are mostly small, sometimes minuscule: for example, while the slow sadness of ''Des pas sur la neige'' moved me to tears, I still felt that allowing more freedom at cadences would have been better still and missed the Plus lent near the end, at 3'34'', and the further change to Tres lent two bars later; and at 2'01'' in ''Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest'' there is (but shouldn't be) a low octave B as in the previous two bars. I can't hear the low left-hand E flat at 1'09'' in ''La danse de Puck'' (its recurrence two bars later perhaps unconsciously compensates by being loud instead of pianissimo), and the cedez and Mouvement fluctuations on the fifth page of this same piece aren't quite as written. There's an extra C in a right-hand chord at 0'41'' in ''Minstrels'', and a G at 1'03'' sounds suspiciously like a G sharp, while the last two chords are hardly retenu. I like the spacious treatment of ''La fille aux cheveux de lin'' (2'56'' here as against Jacques Rouvier's 2'21'' on Denon and Martin Jones's 2'31'' on Nimbus), and Michelangeli's approach (DG) is similar at 2'48'' in this piece headed Tres calme, but some listeners may prefer a more flowing daylit simplicity. Perhaps the penultimate page of ''La serenade interrompue'' lingers too much after the marking Revenir au Mouvement at 1'57'', but the serenader's rueful acknowledgement that his love is unrequited is so meltingly done that the Spanish lady at her window should surely have yielded.
In Book 2, ''Brouillards'' is very slow for a Modere marking (4'41'' to Michelangeli's 2'53''!), but it works powerfully in its own deeply serious terms, while ''Les tierces alternees'' is distinctly rapid for Moderement anime—Un peu plus anime, though thrillingly so. ''La Puerta del Vino'' could have still more violent contrasts and has a D flat for D natural in the chord at 1'16'', but it remains powerfully sensual. In ''Les fees sont d'exquises danseuses'' shouldn't there be G flats in the bar beginning at 0'20'' (though I quite like these G naturals)?
Of the comparisons, Martin Jones's performance of the Preludes has the great advantage of having all of them on a CD lasting nearly 80 minutes, and I admire several things there, such as the sensitive shaping and texturing of ''Danseuses de Delphes'' and ''Des pas sur la neige'' in Book 1. But I also note inaccuracies which are evident even at a first hearing, such as the apparently misread note (C double sharp for C sharp) in the middle section in ''Les collines d'Anacapri'', another note error on page 4 in ''Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest'' (E sharps for E naturals) plus rhythmic inaccuracy and untidiness, an interchange of the two right-hand chords before the first E flat major chord on page 2 of ''La cathedrale engloutie'', G naturals for G flats in the principal melody of ''La serenade interrompue'' and an extra beat of figuration on page 3 of ''Minstrels''. In ''La danse de Puck'', Debussy's written articulation of the main theme is changed to the easier joining of a demisemiquaver to the following dotted semiquaver. I feel mean-spirited in listing these things, but a record purchaser is entitled to expect fidelity to the text, and even over interpretation I cannot share SJ's enthusiasm for Jones's performances—I find him sometimes rather prosaic (not always, as witness ''Les fees sont d'exquises danseuses'' and ''Feux d'artifice'', but could not ''Ondine'' have more other-worldly charm and ''Les tierces alternees'' more sparkle?), and feel that Fergus-Thompson is more inside Debussy's moods, whether they be melancholy (say in ''Des pas sur la neige'', ''Feuilles mortes'' and ''Canope''), exotic as in ''La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune'', or subtly witty as in ''La serenade interrompue'' and ''General Lavine—eccentric''. His recording is more richly satisfying, too, than Jones's. As regards the well recorded Rouvier and Michelangeli performances, suffice it to say that Rouvier is tasteful and enjoyable overall but that the great Italian is too often heavyweight and/or humourless, for example in ''Le vent dans la plaine'', ''La danse de Puck'', ''Minstrels'' and ''Ondine''. I prefer Fergus-Thompson to any of these artists (Rouvier would be next). Collectors will surely want to have this new version of music so rich in interpretative challenges.'