One quartet, three sonatas, Syrinx, and that basically sums up Claude Debussy’s chamber music, as the rest does not amount to much.

Pioneers of the historically informed practice movement, the Kuijken clan is mostly known for their excellent Baroque and Classical recordings, and it is therefore quite astonishing to find them tackling the chamber music of Claude Debussy, in what represents indeed the most advanced incursion in their extensive discography.

In his performance remarks, Sigiswald Kuijken rejects any form of “historic or historicising or historically authentic Debussy”, but the instruments that they have chosen are all either originals from his lifetime or copies thereof, and one has only to listen to the well-known Syrinx, performed by his younger brother Barthold on an Auguste Bonneville instrument of 1910, to realize that these don’t come off sounding like ‘modern’ performances.

After a long time out-of-print, we’re happy to announce that this album is back.