Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2012-02-13 14:03
From my posting on Clarinet Day at Mannes, these are my notes from a lecture-demonstration by Charles Neidich:
The PR was published as a solo with piano for the Paris Conservatoire annual competition. However, Debussy's papers show that he intended the orchestral accompaniment from the beginning.
The PR was finished and engraved in a great rush, and Durand, the publisher, made many mistakes in the solo and piano parts. It's essential to consult the orchestral score, which Debussy checked very carefully. Neidich has a photocopy of Debussy's manuscript. The most audible (and controversial) change is the final flourish, where it's beyond doubt that the low note should be D#, not D. (Marcellus said the same thing in a master class several years ago.)
Debussy was meticulous with his markings. You must follow them exactly, for example starting and ending crescendos just where they're marked.
Debussy made a revolution in harmony. Prior to him, harmonic tension was produced by a sequence of chords (e.g., I-IV-V7-I). Debussy moved from standard to modal harmony. He produced harmonic tension and relaxation by making a "carpet" of tonality, moving away (to dissonance) and returning. In the PR, listen carefully to the piano part, where this happens constantly. You need to find these points and shape your phrases around them, "pressing" on the dissonance and relaxing back into the consonance, as you would with an appoggiatura or other non-harmonic note and its resolution.
Debussy also revolutionized phrase structure. His phrases build to the last note, and crescendo throughout. The next phrase pulls back and starts to build again. Listen to La Mer, where this happens constantly. Also, he uses the common device of stating a short phrase (say, two measures), repeating it (two more measures), and then starting with the same pattern but expanding it to twice the length (four measures). This happens in the second set of phrases in the PR, with the long group moving at half speed.
The pianist is the soloist at the opening of the PR. Be sure to let the pianist finish the opening phrase. In fact, your opening phrase is a pickup to the next piano phrase. Therefore, don't make a big crescendo. You play the basic motive and then hand the phrase back to the pianist.
It's essential to know what's happening in the piano part. The piano is an equal, and often more-than-equal, partner. The revolutionary harmonic and phrase structure are unfamiliar enough, even today, that you have to be hyper-aware of them and demonstrate them to the audience. Although the Mannes faculty member accompanist was excellent, the change when Neidich sat down at the piano was magical. He demonstrated the harmonic devices, singing the solo part and then having the student play with him. In particular, he showed where Debussy changed the harmony in repeated phrases, which requires the soloist to play differently.
For how to get the score and parts, see http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=180949&t=180534
Ken Shaw
Post Edited (2012-02-13 15:39)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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