Debussy

[teamsaint]

Anybody listening?

only caught odd bits, but its inspired me to listen again to some pieces, and to acquire another CD.
Is this a new show, or repeat?
I don't think Debussy was an easy chap to get along with.......C'est la Vie !

[David-G]

I am afraid that I have never understood Debussy - so I have not been listening to this much.

[cloughie]

I am afraid that I have never understood Debussy - so I have not been listening to this much.

Surely that's the reason to broaden your horizons or even seascapes by listening carefully to what Uncle Donald has to say.

[VodkaDilc]

I only caught part of the first programme, but it inspired me to find my old copy of L'Isle Joyeuse to see if I can still play it. I'm not sure which is in the worse state - my playing or the 1960s pre-copyright expiry French music, with its fragile pages and, I seem to remember, over-inflated prices.

[teamsaint]

Surely that's the reason to broaden your horizons or even seascapes by listening carefully to what Uncle Donald has to say.

and , TBF, its not actually in french.

Anyway, I would like Donald's job. Perhaps he will train me for when he retires.....

[Roslynmuse]

Just listening to today's instalment on the iPlayer. 'Jeux' -

[jayne lee wilson]

A great discovery for me during the 2012 Proms was The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. Yes it's awkward with its variously edited narration, and I really wish other conductors would do what Knussen did, and simply play as much of the music as possible without it. But the music itself is sublime, almost the only late creation in a similar idiom, and with equally magical results, to Pelleas et Melisande.

I bought 3 recordings, the Inghelbrecht and Munch are very lovely, but the best (and musically most complete) is the ravishing Tilson-Thomas/LSO realisation, where Leslie Caron's unobtrusively beautiful narration seems, uniquely, to enhance the music.
Any curious, Debussy-loving soul should soon swoon to that one...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

the best (and musically most complete) is the ravishing Tilson-Thomas/LSO realisation, where Leslie Caron's unobtrusively beautiful narration seems, uniquely, to enhance the music.
Any curious, Debussy-loving soul should soon swoon to that one...

Well, this one does! I also enjoy the BBCMusMag Disc from earlier this year. The narrator (as in Persephone and Oedipus Rex) is key to the work: a poor one makes me wish I was just hearing the "Fragments from" - but a good one convinces me that anything less is a betrayal of the greatness of the work.

[amateur51]

Well, this one does! I also enjoy the BBCMusMag Disc from earlier this year. The narrator (as in Persephone and Oedipus Rex) is key to the work: a poor one makes me wish I was just hearing the "Fragments from" - but a good one convinces me that anything less is a betrayal of the greatness of the work.

And Perséphone should be played more often in concert - I've heard it 'live' only once played by LSO/Tilson Thomas who fortunately went on to record it - wonderful

[Beresford]

Debussy played badly can sound like insipid Beethoven or a vaguer version of Schumann. A too nonchalant Frenchman or too grippy Russian or too foreceful German can destroy it. Played well, his music is full of interesting shifts in feeling and dynamics. Here are my favourite performances:

Piano - Daniel Ericourt (who as a teenager turned pages for Debussy)
String Quartet - Talich quartet
Violin Sonata - Peter Oundjian
Cello Sonata - haven't yet found a CD I really like - but there was a lovely version played on Through the Night some months ago by Ola Karlsson and Lars David Nilsson
La Mer - Giulini creates a mesmerizing atmosphere with the Philharmonia - it was a favourite LP.

Maybe those who don't "get" Debussy are waiting for the tunes. I think getting to like Debussy is a way into modern music, if you want to go there. (But after that tunes may begin to sound like you are being told what to feel.)
Interested to hear views of others more musical than I.

[Serial_Apologist]

A too nonchalant Frenchman

An example being, I'm afraid, Pierre-Laurent Aimard's Chamber Prom of September 1st, which I mentioned on the respective thread. Oddly enough, Debussy seems to have been in the habit of plaing his music with little expression, rushed and excessively forcefully, to judge by a piano roll on, I think it was, Through The Night a few nights ago.

Gieseking still remains for me The Man when it comes to putting all the right nuances into the piano music.

Maybe those who don't "get" Debussy are waiting for the tunes. I think getting to like Debussy is a way into modern music, if you want to go there. (But after that tunes may begin to sound like you are being told what to feel.)

One way, certainly - he was one of the godfathers; I completely agree with you here, too.

[teamsaint]

ok, so inspired by this thread and COTW, I am just playing the Estampes on youtube, when up pops and ad for "Fifty shades of Grey....the classical album".

Not making this up. Wonder if its any good ?!

[Serial_Apologist]

ok, so inspired by this thread and COTW, I am just playing the Estampes on youtube, when up pops and ad for "Fifty shades of Grey....the classical album".

Not making this up. Wonder if its any good ?!

Is "En Blanc et Noir" on there?

[Roslynmuse]

Is "En Blanc et Noir" on there?

They've merged...

[cloughie]

ok, so inspired by this thread and COTW, I am just playing the Estampes on youtube, when up pops and ad for "Fifty shades of Grey....the classical album".

Not making this up. Wonder if its any good ?!

I saw it in Tesco's chart albums - is there any depth the majors will go to market their 'classical' CDs. It seems to be on a par with Naxos getting Sven's classical choice together a few years ago.