French-American pianist Mathilde Handelsman released, Debussy: Images on the label Sheva Collection. The debut album contains Claude Debussy's complete works for piano from 1903-07, including Images Books I and II, Estampes, Masques, D'un cahier d'esquiesses, and L'isle joyeuse. In our insider interview with her, she talks about what makes these works so unique, life lessons from the legendary Menahem Pressler, and more.
You came to from France to the U.S. in 2015 to study with Menahem Pressler at Indiana University. Of all the excellent teachers in the world, why did you choose him specifically?
There were many reasons! First of all, Menahem Pressler and the Beaux-Arts Trio are very well-known in France. Until recently, Mr. Pressler came to perform in Paris regularly and maintained a great relationship with Parisian audiences. That is to say that I, as a Parisian, knew of him early on. I admired his playing – his beautiful and delicate touch, his incomparable way of making a piano sing – and also the specific career that he led, with this very big emphasis on chamber music as well as a solo career, not to mention an active teaching schedule throughout most of his life. To me, that was really unique and incredible, and I was very drawn to his musical personality.
The second important factor that played a huge role in my decision was that Bloomington itself has an important reputation in France. Many French pianists in the 1970-80s went there to study with Gyorgy Sebok – in fact, one of my own teachers in France was a Sebok disciple. So I grew up hearing about Bloomington, and Pressler, and Beaux-Arts, and Sebok... I also knew that the cellist Janos Starker had taught there, as well as the violinist Dubinsky from the Borodin quartet whom I had grown up listening to. To me as a teenager, all these things gave Bloomington a certain mystique, it was a place with a very special history.
I also want to mention that before entering Mr. Pressler’s studio, I studied six months under another extraordinary pianist and teacher at Indiana University, Edmund Battersby. Prof. Battersby tragically passed away during my first year, and immediately after that I auditioned for Mr Pressler and became his student. Needless to say, it was a very intense and conflicted time for me, as I was grieving yet also starting one of the most exciting and inspiring periods in my musical education.
What was the biggest take-away from studying with Pressler?
Preparing a lesson with Menahem Pressler is like preparing for the most important performance of your life. His standards are incredibly high. When I started studying with him, he was already 94 but even at that age nothing escaped him. If my mental focus and musical commitment were not at 100%, he would instantly hear it and have me stop and try again. There was never any room for mindless playing – not even one bar! That meant that in the practice room beforehand, I also had to prepare myself mentally. My musical ideas had to be absolutely clear in my mind before playing for him. It could never just be about fingers. In fact, something Pressler could always catch right away, and that he really disliked, was a student trying to demonstrate technique without any artistic purpose, or playing with an inflated sense of ego. I learned a lot from that.
Mr. Pressler also frequently talks about love and beauty in his lessons. He infuses to his students a high sense of discipline and work ethic, combined with a deep and sincere love for the music we are playing. There is a somewhat spiritual dimension to it. To me, that was the greatest musical lesson possible. I will never forget it, and I carry his teaching with me every day.
Is there a noticeable difference or “style” between what you learned studying in France and the U.S.?
No, at least not from a purely musical standpoint. Music is music, and the piano teachers I encountered in America had often studied abroad or were not even American themselves. Of course, there were important differences which I felt mainly in how music schools are organized and structured in America versus France. In a way, this was more poignant for me as a teacher than as a student. When I had to teach piano or music theory for the first time in the US, the differences between two specific music school systems really hit me and it was a big adjustment. I have come to appreciate the pros and cons of both systems now, and I think that this awareness strengthens my teaching.
Why did you choose to record an all-Debussy album for your debut recording?
By the time I started thinking about recording a debut album, there was never any doubt as to what the repertoire would be. It was what felt the most personal and natural. Debussy had been one of my very favorite composers since I was child. I played a lot of selections from the Preludes and The Children’s Corner while growing up, and some of the repertoire featured on the album I played when I was fifteen. I was always drawn to both books of Images in particular and their evocative sound world, and L’Isle Joyeuse became my favorite “war horse” and featured on many of my recital programs for several years.
I focused on this repertoire during my studies in Strasbourg – during which I also wrote a Masters thesis on the same topic, “Debussy’s complete piano works of 1903-1907” – and it took a good five years of planning before I could finally go forward with a concrete recording project. And then of course, symbolically, playing this repertoire also made me feel even more connected to my teacher, since Pressler’s own career was launched at the Casadesus competition with an all-Debussy program.
In the liner notes of your album, you write that these works represent a turning point for Debussy. In what ways does his writing style change in this period?
Yes, to me, Estampes really marks the beginning of Debussy’s “second period” in his compositions for solo piano. I think one of the details that really stood out to me in all the pieces in this period 1903-1907 was, first and foremost, Debussy’s choice of titles.
Before Estampes, and with the exception of the Verlaine-ian title “Clair de Lune,” all of Debussy’s piano pieces bore names inherited from the Classical-Romantic era (Nocturne, Ballade, Valse, Mazurka, Tarentelle…), and his suites like the Suite Bergamasque and Pour le Piano seemed to allude to the Baroque period. But with Estampes and Images, we are suddenly transported into a new poetic landscape and sound world, with vivid and expressive titles like “Reflections in the water,” “Bells through the leaves,” or the long, beautiful and Haiku-esque “… And the moon descends on the old temple.”
I think the titles are already an indicator that Debussy is no longer nodding to the past, but looking toward a new century and inventing his own musical language – and, of course, I think you can hear it in the music. We are no longer in the Chabrier-inspired accompanied melodies and dances. Now we have pieces inspired by Asian and Spanish music, with floating, abstract motifs one could barely qualify as “themes”; long, sustained harmonies, the use of pentatonic and other modes; tremolo effects to emulate the sound of water… It’s a true revolution!
Tell me about the piano you recorded on. It’s incredible to hear the timbre of the instrument, which is noticeably different from a modern grand piano, and not quite the sound of the fortepianos of the mid 19th-century.
-How did you come across the piano?
At the time my mother was teaching in this little French town, Chateau-Thierry, and so that was how I came across the piano. The Steinway in question – an 1875 instrument – is in the chapel of the music conservatoire in Chateau-Thierry, northeast of Paris. It originally belonged to the French pianist Jean Wiéner. Chateau-Thierry is a very picturesque place, with the ruins of an old castle at the top of a hill.
An historical anecdote: an important battle took place there during World War I, which the French won with the help of the Americans. For that reason, the town still holds important ties with the United States. It was an interesting coincidence for a French-American such as myself.
-How is it different from a 21st century Steinway (in terms of playing, structure, etc.)
It was quite different. I loved the unique character of the instrument, its warmth and its depth. To me, the piano had a “soul,” and a sound that was less uniform perhaps than what a modern instrument would have offered. That being said, this Steinway could be very capricious (especially at the end of a long day of recording!) which required extra concentration from me in terms of evenness and overall control. It wasn’t a piano that would do that part for you, like most modern instruments can. But I think the sonic result was worth the challenge!
