Debussy: Les Preludes, Books I&II
Francine Kay, Piano
NOMINATED FOR A JUNO AWARD!
(Classical Music, small ensemble category 1995)
”Highly individual …compelling …something to celebrate.” Ottawa Citizen.
”I was deeply moved by your Debussy Preludes CDs. Both the sonic and artistic achievement are beyond description. …Your CDs cost me one sleepless night searching for a piano recording that could match. There was none, not even from the so-called audiophile labels. …It outshines all my other Debussy collections. I’ve never heard (or seen) such rich Debussy colours except in a live performance.” David Kan, Markham Ontario
 Francine Kay has been acclaimed for her “poetic brilliance”, “magnetic presence”, and “beauty of sound, often exquisite delicacy and real personality.”
Ms. Kay received her early musical training at L’Ecole de Musique Vincent D’Indy in Montreal, where she studied with Sr. Rita de la Croix and Yvonne Hubert. A scholarship from the government of France took her to Paris to study with Yvonne Lefebure as part of “Juillet Musical”, held in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the birthplace of Debussy. She then went on to earn her Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School in New York as a scholarship student of Adele Marcus. Subsequently, she was awarded scholarships from the Banff Centre for six consecutive years, during which time she was regularly featured as soloist in their many concert series. She pursued postgraduate studies with Marek Jabloniski and Leon Fleisher at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, where she is currently a faculty member.
Her awards include the first Women’s Musical Club of Toronto Career Development Award in 1989, the Chalmers Prize, the St. Lawrence Award, and a full fellowship from the Tanglewood Music Centre. Also in 1989, she was chosen to perform the world premiere of Oskar Morawetz’s Four Contrasting Moods.
Captured in superb sound by engineer Clive Allen, the recording was made in a small church in Elora Ontario using only a single pair Sony C-28 microphones in omni mode. This two CD set was mastered directly to CD-R after editing on a Sonic Solutions digital editing system.
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