DXLVII. DEBUSSY, Claude (1862-1918)
Préludes, Book 1 (1909-10)
Pascal Rogé, piano
(45:11)
Impressionism. Both Debussy and Ravel hated the term, but if the shoe fits ...
- Moods and emotions aroused by the subject rather than a detailed tone-picture. (Debussy intended the music to speak for itself, and placed each prélude's title at the end of the movement, presumably to allow the performer to experience the music without being influenced by its evocative title. How silly! For a pianist to learn this music, he or she must practice it for a long time, and thus the title will have already resonated with his or her understanding of the music.)
- Color or timbre is more important than traditional melodic, harmonic or rhythmic structures. Combinations of clashing chords, ambiguous tonality, extended harmonies, and the use of modes and exotic scales (e.g. whole-tone), parallel motion -- these all help define the term.
2. Voiles: Modéré (Veils/Sails)
Ambiguity. Since plurals in French cannot distinguish gender (le voile = veil; la voile = sail), we cannot know for sure which word Debussy might have meant. Perhaps both ...
3. Le vent dans la plaine: Animé (The Wind in the Plain)
4. "Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir": Modéré ("The sounds and fragrances swirl through the evening air")
From a poem by Baudelaire, Harmonie du soir (Evening Harmony) ...
5. Les collines d'Anacapri: Très modéré (The Hills of Anacapri)
6. Des pas sur la neige: Triste et lent (Footsteps in the Snow)
7. Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest: Animé et tumulteux (What the West Wind Has Seen)
8. La fille aux cheveux de lin: Très calme et doucement expressif (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair)
One of Debussy's best-known works.
10. La cathédrale engloutie: Profondément calme (The engulfed Cathedral)
11. La danse de Puck: Capricieux et léger (Puck's Dance)
12. Minstrels: Modéré
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