Posts tagged Debussy

Debussy
La Mer, trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre
I. De l’aube à midi sur la mer
II. Jeux des vagues
III. Dialogue du vent et de la mer

Montréal Symphony Orch.
Dutoit

Debussy with Zohra ben Brahim, 1897, at the house of their friend the erotic poet and photographer Pierre Louÿs. Louÿs brought Zohra to Paris from Algeria as a kind of muse, and, well… “We are stuck together like two dogs in the street,” he had written to Debussy.

Debussy with Zohra ben Brahim, 1897, at the house of their friend the erotic poet and photographer Pierre Louÿs. Louÿs brought Zohra to Paris from Algeria as a kind of muse, and, well… “We are stuck together like two dogs in the street,” he had written to Debussy.

Flickr / desingel

Debussy
Fantasy for piano and orchestra (1890)
II. Lento e molto espressivo
III. Allegro molto

Zoltán Kocsis, piano
Budapest Festival Orch. 
Iván Fischer, cond. 

Debussy began his career by continuing the path of French composers such as d’Indy and Fauré before undergoing the radical shift which resulted in his more characteristic style. One of my favorite works by Debussy, the Fantasy for piano and orchestra, was an early effort which the composer immediately suppressed; it was not heard in its entirety until his death in 1918. It is the closest thing to a ‘piano concerto’ in his output. Here are its second and third movemnts, which segue uninterrupted. The first movement can be heard here.

Flickr / madsofa

Debussy
Pour le piano
II. Sarabande 

Rafael Bechacz, piano

Debussy
Sonata in G minor for violin and piano
III. Finale: Très animé

Janine Jansen, violin
Itamar Golan, piano
Salle Pleyel, 2011 

bnf.fr

oscurasuerte:

always liked to wonder around the early works of “important artists” (as Th. Adorno would say), in this case, the artists that achieved a breakthrough in history with their works.

Usually this would mean (for me of course) the tonal works from atonal composers…

Debussy isn’t atonal, but for sure made a shift in his moment with his harmonic language…

Ballade Slave, 1890.

Aldo Ciccolini, piano.

(i’ll post one of his lasts works i also like a lot)

The opening motive reminds me very much of La plus que lente…

Debussy
Danse sacrée et danse profane (1904)
for harp and strings

Ann Mason Stockton, harp
Concert Arts String Ensemble 

It was Pleyel’s commission of this work from Claude Debussy in promotion of its new chromatic harp harp design which prompted Erard to commission the Introduction et Allegro of Ravel. 

Ravel with his pet kitty, and Debussy with his pet…bass clarinet. 

Ravel with his pet kitty, and Debussy with his pet…bass clarinet. 

bibliolore.org

Debussy
Hommage à Rameau
from Images, Ier livre

Arturo Benedetto Michelangeli, piano 

Debussy
Poissons d’or / Goldfish
from Images, Book II

Arturo Bendetto Michelangeli, piano
(1962)

Drame cosmogonique de Debussy

Drame cosmogonique de Debussy

Flickr / madsofa

Debussy - Syrinx

Emmanuel Pahud, flute


Manuscript in short score: Debussy, Pelléas et Mélisande, Act I, Sc. 1. (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Coll., Yale Univ.) I find it interesting that something in the musical hand of Debussy seems to reflect the core values of French music in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries—contrary to the often aired popular misconception of “Impressionism” in music as a careless, hedonistic color wash, precision, balance, and finely measured detail are at the heart of the French school. But it is true that, as with the art of the period, these musical canvases are meant to be appreciated from a certain careful distance. 

Manuscript in short score: Debussy, Pelléas et Mélisande, Act I, Sc. 1.

(Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Coll., Yale Univ.)

I find it interesting that something in the musical hand of Debussy seems to reflect the core values of French music in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries—contrary to the often aired popular misconception of “Impressionism” in music as a careless, hedonistic color wash, precision, balance, and finely measured detail are at the heart of the French school. But it is true that, as with the art of the period, these musical canvases are meant to be appreciated from a certain careful distance.