Keepers

Keepers The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

RE: Debussy Rhapsodie

Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2002-10-10 09:53

One of the key aspects to interpreting the music of the impressionist Debussy in particular is to preserve a sense of mystery in his music, attaining nebulous qualities through his mastery of music's suggestive power. His music is not at all vague.

Indeed his music shows a composer of scrupulous and methodical craftsmanship with attention to detail regarding articulation, dynamics, and even tonal color.

The music of Debussy is not to be loosely interpreted. One must follow the composer's every printed detail, thereby allowing or FREEING the overall "palette" of the musical score to become "impressionistic".

The visual equivalent would be to look at a painting of Monet up close and observe the prescision and detail of every brushed strokewith the exact texture and colors that the brush strokes impart....then to step back and observe that the sum of these details create the sense of "impressionism".

The true marvel of this "contest piece" is that the technical demands are so subtly interwoven into the musical texture that the most trained of listeners fail to perceive it's great difficulty.

Debussy knew of the inner mysteries of our instrument like few others, the result of which is a rich, complex work of extraordinary depth.

-------

True, there is allot of musical substance to extract from this work, but in a stylistically informed, appropriate way. One has to as a performer be informed by the history, context, and stylistic considerations of any piece, particularly as formidable a work as this one.

Musical expression carries with it a tremendous amount of responsibility to understand and to be informed by these considerations. There are many different qualities of expression - some appropriate to Debussy and others to Beethoven or Stravinsky. One can not simply express themselves merely for expression's sake...simply to provoke rather than evoke a response from an audience.

The question becomes how far and in what manner is one to consider departing from the printed part. To say that one would only play simply what was on the printed page if one strictly followed all of the instructions is beside the point. Of course every competent musician uses that as their starting point - as the "blueprint" that I mentioned in an earlier post.

The QUALITY, not the QUANTITY of the expression gleaned from that "blueprint" is what distinguishes a merely competent artist form a great one.

The Debussy can evoke all kinds of emotional responses from the listening audience. But if the audience is expecting something other than a performance informed by a style appropriate to Debussy, then they are bound to be left feeling short or even dissapointed. One can not of course play Debussy in the style of Wagner or Scriabin and expect to serve the composer. It's unfortunate if you were one of those audience members expecting something else.

But "pushing modern ways" does not necessarily have to entail thowing the baby out with the bathwater when the ultimate goal is to bring the music to life in an interesting, exciting, but INFORMED manner. In that sense, yes, context IS everything.

One doesn't necessarily have to forsake expression for the sake of fidelity to the composer. The two are not inextricably bound.

-----

Yes, an original instrument performance of the Debussy that would include equipment playing as well in tune and with similar mouthpiece/reed/tonal characteristics as one produced in 1910 would be an interesting project. It might require playing a replica. Should one then play a 1910 Steinway at 1910 pitch? In a room the similar to the size and acoustic of the original competition? How far does one want need go before reaching a point of diminishing returns? These are all very personal questions that each has to answer for themselves.

Gregory Smith

Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics

Author

Date

Debussy Rhapsodie new

michal

2002-10-10 02:19