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Vanessa Benelli Mosell performs the twelve Préludes of the second book of Debussy’s famed collection ofpostcard images, written in the last months of 1912 and early 1913. The evocatively- named miscellany of events selected by Debussy for his second set of Préludes range from fog and fireworks, to the circus clown ‘Général Lavine – eccentric’, who supposedly played piano with his toes.

Certain pieces look out across the world, from ‘Canope’ after the Ancient Egyptian canopic jars that stood on his mantelpiece, to the Moorish ‘La Puerta del Vino’ by the Alhambra. Others are drawn from literary sources: ‘Les fées sont d’exquises danseuses’ holds fabled roots in J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, while the tongue-in-cheek ‘Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C’ quotes the English national anthem in Debussy’s evocation of Dickens’ first novel.

Dedicated to his three-year-old daughter, Chouchou in 1908, Debussy’s mischievous six- movement Children’s Corner offers a light-hearted retrospective on childhood, from thedistracted pianist daydreaming through their exercises in ‘Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum’ to ‘Jimbo’s Lullaby’, serenading the majestic elephant to sleep, while the famous cakewalkending to the suite jokes at the expense of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde.

Also featured by Vanessa Benelli Mosell is Debussy’s vivid piano rhapsody L’isle joyeuse,written during a stay on Jersey and inspired by Antoine Watteau’s Pèlerinage à l’île deCythère, is unique in his work for its level of virtuosity and euphoria.

Recollections of operas by Rossini, Bellini, Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, and Busoni transcribed by Liszt, Chopin, Ginzburg, Thalberg, Carignani and Wittgenstein...

Vanessa Benelli Mosell turns from Stockhausen to the drama of Italian opera for her new album Casta Diva, to be released on Decca Classics on Friday 13 November 2020.

Benelli Mosell has assembled a collection of popular arias, overtures and themes fromNorma, La Bohème, Barbiere di Siviglia, Guillaume Tell, Madama Butterfly and more in virtuosic arrangements by some of great pianists of the 19th and 20th centuries. From lyrical variations by Chopin and Wittgenstein to pyrotechnics from Liszt, Thalburg and Ginzburg, these piano renditions unleash the instrument’s full capabilities, taking on the might of the orchestra. Often unapologetically flashy, these transcriptions provided not just a demonstration of technical prowess but also served as a haunting memory of opera in the days before recordings.