[2/10/2012] Preview: Mezzo Susan Graham shares her favorite Debussy: "Clair de lune"! (continued)

Au clair de lune by John Atkinson Grimshaw (1882)

Aldo Ciccolini, piano. EMI, recorded Apr. 11-19, 1991


SUSAN GRAHAM ON "CLAIR DE LUNE"
(from BBC Music Magazine, February 2012)

I was a serious piano student before I studied singing, and "Clair de lune" is still a very big part of my life. The thing I love about Debussy, and why I will go into my house in the hills of Santa Fe with nobody around, open the doors, lift up the lid of my grand piano and play this piece, is because it feels like it's just for me. I started learning about it from a young age: the painting and the music from the period are closely intertwined -- it all made sense to me. When I started tackling the piece, it was so fulfilling to play. Debussy was such a rule-breaker, and invented a language that is so full of freedom and relentlessness. I love "Clair de lune"'s changes in mood: it has a beginning, a middle and an end -- to me it tells a story.

DEBUSSY: Suite bergamasque: No. 3, "Clair de lune"


Peter Frankl, piano. Vox, recorded c1962

Walter Gieseking, piano. EMI, recorded Aug. 17-18, 1953


IN THIS WEEK'S SUNDAY CLASSICS POST

More "Impressions of Debussy," with some more piano works: the first of the two Arabesques, the prelude "La Cathédrale engloutie" ("The Submerged Cathedral"), and "Reflets dans l'eau" ("Reflections in the Water") from Book I of the Images for Piano; plus the last of the three Images for Orchestra, Rondes de printemps (Round Dances of Spring).

Then in a second installment we'll hear the Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp; a snippet of the opera Pelléas et Mélisande; and Debussy's last completed orchestral work, the "poème dansé" Jeux (Games). At least that's how I'm thinking it's going to work. But things change here.

SUNDAY CLASSICS DEBUSSY

Roaming the landscape (and seascape!) of the imagination -- the full orchestral splendor of Debussy (4/18/2012)
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and Saxophone Rhapsody (cond. Martinon, Masur), La Mer (cond. Boulez, Rosenthal, Martinon, Masur), Three Nocturnes (cond. Plasson)
Preview 1: Debussy -- the man who heard the music in moonlight (4/16/2010)
In various arrangements as well as the piano originals: "Clair de lune," "La Fille aux cheveux de lin" ("The Girl with the Flaxen Hair"), and "Golligwogg's Cake-walk"
Preview 2: Debussy from "Syrinx" to Afternoon of a Faun -- or is it vice versa? (4/17/2010)
Syrinx played by Paula Robison and Jean-Pierre Rampal (videos) and Julius Baker. Afternoon of a Faun conductred by Manuel Rosenthal
Preview: Mezzo Susan Graham shares her favorite Debussy: "Clair de lune"! (2/10/2012)
Played by Aldo Ciccolini, Peter Frankl, and Walter Gieseking, plus Virgil Fox (organ), Angel Romero (guitar), and Jascha Heifetz (violin)
More "impressions of Debussy" (2/12/2012)
A bevy of pianists play the first of the Two Arabesques, "Reflets dans l'eau" from Series 1 of the Images for Piano, and the prélude "La Cathédrale engloutie"; plus the last of the three Images for Orchestra, Rondes de printemps, is conducted by Manuel Rosenthal, Jean Martinon, and Charles Munch
Preview: More Debussy -- a quick entrée into one of the truly unique pieces in the musical literature (2/17/2010)
Act I, Scene 1 of Pelléas et Mélisande conducted by Ernest Ansermet (twice), Pierre Boulez, Claudio Abbado, and Herbert von Karajan
Still more "Impressions of Debussy" (2/19/2010)
Three performances of the Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp; Jeux conducted by Pierre Boulez, Manuel Rosenthal, and Jean Martinon; and an assortment of performances of the opening of the Tower Scene of Act III of Pelléas et Mélisande

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