Simon Trpceski turns to Debussy's withdrawn poetry and fantasy with an ease and delicacy that suggest, once more, a wholly exceptional artist.
He is, perhaps above all, harmonically aware, with every change of colour and sonority subtly underpinned, making you doubly aware of Debussy's chiaroscuro, his infinite play of light and shade. The First Arabesque could hardly be more charming or insinuating, the Second thrown off with all the requisite perkiness and vivacity.
In Children's Corner Trpceski's 'Dr Gradus' is truly modérément and a far cry from a once fashionable virtuoso rush as well as much received French wisdom. His 'Golliwogg' is superbly cantankerous and up-front, though with plenty of sly winks and nudges when required, and in extreme contrast, in 'Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut' (Images, Bk 2) you will hear an ideally balanced chording and a tonal translucency inseparable from great Debussy-playing.
The end, too (pianissimo and lointain) is memorably evocative. True, there is a momentary loss of focus at the end of 'Poissons d'or' where the final shift of emphasis is blurred, but such tiny lapses are like spots on the sun. Trpceski's way with 'Clair de lune' makes you long to hear him in the complete Suite bergamasque.

Following his fire-eating Chopin recital, Simon Trpceski retreats into Debussy's more withdrawn poetry and fantasy with an ease and delicacy that suggest, once more, a wholly exceptional artist.

[Of Images Book II] He [Simon Trpceski] turned ordinary notes into gently shimmering cascades of colour, finally building up to the rollicking, occasionally jazzy ‘Poissons d’or.’ His playing was so perfect that it took an effort to remember to breathe while listening