[2/12/2012] More "Impressions of Debussy" (continued)

The chords representing church bells in "The Submerged Cathedral"

Préludes, Book I: X. "La Cathédrale engloutie"

Marcelle Meyer, piano. EMI, recorded Feb. 14-15, 1956

Krystian Zimerman, piano. DG, recorded August 1991


Above we hear the quickest (Marcelle Meyer's) and most spacious (Krystian Zimerman's) of the six CD recordings I laid hands on of the Debussy piano prélude "La Cathédrale engloutie." Now, as promised, we read about and hear it and two more piano works, plus -- to go with our piano Image -- the last of the three Images for Orchestra.

1. Two Arabesques: No. 1 in E, Andantino con moto;
Tempo rubato (A little less quick); 1st tempo (1888)

OLIVER CONDY, editor of BBC Music Magazine
(from his front-of-the-book "Welcome" to the magazine's cover feature celebrating Debussy's 150th birthday)

Like many people, I was introduced to Debussy's music through his piano works -- specifically the first Arabesque. As a teenager, I found the French composer's music instantly attractive to play (and not just because it was a damn sight easier than Rachmaninov or Bach). This was music that spoke to me -- music that broke free from the rules that the fusty sonatas of Beethoven or Mozart, or so they seemed to me at the time, stuck to bar after bar. Debussy's ethereal harmonies delighted me -- the idea that I could conjure up reflections in the water, the light of the moon or even a sunken cathedral (whatever that was) gave me countless reasons for practising. So I suppose I could say that Debussy may well be the reason why I decided to carry on playing.

Walter Gieseking, piano. EMI, recorded August 1953

Peter Frankl, piano. Vox, recorded c1962

Aldo Ciccolini, piano. EMI, recorded Apr. 11-19, 1991
Two Arabesques: No. 1 in E, Andante con moto;
No. 2 in G, Allegretto scherzando

Beveridge Webster, piano. Desto, recorded c1970

All of our Debussyans are gifted keyboard tone colorists, as you would hope in this music. Note the wide variation in pacing, from Beveridge Webster's lickety-split account to Aldo Ciccolini's spaciously ruminative one. Note too that since I had to go back to the Desto LPs for the Webster performance (from his lovely set of the complete Debussy piano works), I decided to include the playful Second Arabesque as well. (Note, finally, that the Two Arabesques are the composer's first published piano works.)

2. Images for Piano, Series 1: "Reflets dans l'eau"
("Reflections in the Water"), Andantino molto
(Tempo rubato) (1904-5)

NORIKO OGAWA, pianist

While I really love all the Études, particularly the one for sixths, I still have such vivid childhood memories of seeing André Watts on television playing "Reflets dans l'eau" from Images Book I. I just thought it was the most beautiful piece of music. I thought that I would like to play this piece myself, and so in a way it changed my life. The challenges for a player lie in the very fast demi-semi-quavers [16th notes] which have to sound very fluid in order to achieve the needed flexibility of sound and tone colours. And there are also tiny little differences from one figuration to another -- they sound and look very similar, but there may be only one note different. To do what Debussy wanted, you have to look very closely at every note.

Marcelle Meyer, piano. EMI, recorded Jan. 14-17, 1957

Walter Gieseking, piano. EMI, recorded August 1953

Aldo Ciccolini, piano. EMI, recorded April 1991

Peter Frankl, piano. Vox, recorded c1962

Note how differently our pianists handle those right-hand 16th-note passages, broadening out to almost individual chords in Peter Frankl's beautiful performance. He isn't looking in the same water, or seeing the same reflections, as, say, Walter Gieseking in his patrician performance.

3. Préludes, Book I: X. "La Cathédrale engloutie"
("The Submerged Cathedral"), Profondément calme (1909-10)

STEVEN OSBORNE, pianist

For me, "La Cathédrale engloutie" has a lot of sentimental associations. I learnt it when I was a kid and loved playing it -- technically it's pretty simple, and yet there are these amazing sonorities he gets from the piano. But then, as I got older, I realised more and more what an astounding piece of music it is. You have this opening rising figure that comes back constantly, but the piece develops in slow motion into this overwhelming climax when the figure becomes the melody. He does it all with such amazing economy of means. Part of the skill in playing it lies in how you layer the sound -- it has to have an incredible sense of space and you have to control the sound well enough from the first chord to ensure that space isn't disturbed. . . .

Wikipedia notes: This piece is based on an ancient Breton myth in which a cathedral, submerged underwater off the coast of the Island of Ys, rises up from the sea on clear mornings when the water is transparent. Sounds can be heard of priests chanting, bells chiming, and the organ playing, from across the sea. Accordingly, Debussy uses certain harmonies to allude to the plot of the legend, in the style of musical impressionism. . . .


Walter Gieseking, piano. EMI, recorded August 1953

Aldo Ciccolini, piano. EMI, recorded April 1991

Peter Frankl, piano. Vox, recorded c1962

Maurizio Pollini, piano. DG, recorded June 1998

As noted, we've already heard our fastest and slowest performances, both beauties, up top. If this "astounding piece of music," as Steven Osborne calls it, doesn't plug directly into the imagination, what's the point? It's also an excellent idea if we can feel it building to that "overwhelming climax," which nobody does better than the implacable Gieseking. If I hadn't made the MP3 file of the Pollini performance first of all, anticipating that it would be an interesting change of pace, I'm not sure I would have included it; cleanly and even prettily played as it may be, I don't hear it building or in fact going much of anywhere. I'm sure, though, that you'll find people who'll tell you what a great performance it is.

4. Images for Orchestra: No. 3, Rondes de printemps
(Round Dances of Spring) (1905-9)

COLIN MATTHEWS, composer

My immediate reaction was to go for Jeux, which I couldn't live without; but the piece which perhaps exemplifies what I most love about Debussy is Rondes de printemps, from the orchestral Images. It's such a wonderfully elusive piece -- as soon as you've grasped one element of it, off it goes somewhere else. Yet it retains such a strong sense of direction through the constant beauty and subtlety of Debussy's inimitable soundworld. The melodic ideas start by being fragmentary but build towards a brilliant climax -- and it's all achieved with an orchestra that has no trumpets or trombones.

Orchestra of the Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris, Manuel Rosenthal, cond. Adès, recorded 1957-59

Orchestre National de l'ORTF, Jean Martinon, cond. EMI, recorded 1973-74

Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Dec. 16, 1957

Manuel Rosenthal acknowledges in a 1996 interview in the Debussy CD booklet that he didn't have a great deal of rehearsal time for the remarkable recordings he made in the late '50s for the plucky Adès label of the major orchestral works of Debussy and Ravel with the Paris Opera Orchestra, which you wouldn't think had played this music much. Perhaps this has something to do with the performances' freshness and seeming spontaneity, though the quality that most strikes me in this Rondes de printemps is, well, intimacy -- with no lack of boldness. We've heard a number of selections from both series, as we have of Jean Martinon's equally remarkable early '70s EMI Debussy and Ravel series. Here the word that pops to mind is mysterious, maybe even eerie. Finally, the Boston Symphony as cultivated by then-music director Charles Munch in the '50s may have been the best "French" orchestra the music world has ever known, and everything seems to me beautifully in place in this classic recording.

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 (2/17/2012)
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" (2/19/2012)
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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