And you thought cooking was hard…

Don't tell a French food addict that you've enjoyed "authentic" Bouillabaisse because that will start a fight. It seems that even in Marseilles everyone has a different idea as to how the recipe should go. When it comes to music, at least as far as pop music is concerned, we know how the performance should go because we all heard the same recording with the original artist. That doesn't work too often in classical music since the original artists have long since joined the choir invisible.

On the Piano this Sunday Claude Debussy's Preludes, not quite with the original artist, but with a great pianist who studied these light and elusive works with the composer himself.

Hear Debussy, one step removed on the Piano this Sunday afternoon at 5 on KPAC and KTXI.

host, Randy Anderson

Close to perfect

One thing we Classical Music lovers often want and can't have is the original artist performing their music. I mean we have Elvis singing is own tunes, but we can't hear Mozart playing his pianos sonatas.

Claude Debussy was a good pianist and near the end of his life he sat down and played his first book of preludes on a Welte Mignon reproducing piano and I have featured those recordings on the Piano before. The playing is a little uneven and we don't know if the composer brushed up his technique before sitting down to work. Enter Marcelle Meyer. She was the virtuosa with a fabulous and honest technique that became the "house" pianist for Les Six in Paris. She wanted to play Debussy's music and being the conscientious musician she was, she visited the composer and went over his music with him so she could do the music and Debussy justice.

On the Piano this Sunday afternoon at 5 you can hear Marcelle Meyer's recordings of Claude Debussy's First Book of Preludes on KPAC and KTXI.