It was a warm Sunday morning in 3rd year college when I woke up after sleeping over at my college friend's house. That was the first time I heard Debussy's "Clair de Lune". I borrowed Petita's piano CD, and took it home with me. It was a delightful collection, most of which are my favorites today: Beethoven's Menuett in G; Chopin's Etude in E, Op. 10, No. 3 "Tristesse" and Prelude in D-Flat, Op. 28, No. 15 "Raindrop"; Dvorak's Humoresque; Grieg's "To the Spring" from Lyrical Pieces, Op. 43 and "Butterfly" from Lyrical Pieces, Op. 43; and Rubinstein's Melody in F. But apart from all this it includes a composition that, to me, never ceases to amaze - Debussy's "Clair de Lune" (from Suite Bergamesque).
Before listening to it, I already saw its sheet music. I never got attracted to it before. While my father was trying to play it in our mini electronic piano back then, I thought it was too tacky and too expressive. He only played it until the tempo rubato part.
Later on, too expressive turned to considerably impressive when I heard it completely for the first time. It sounded so beautifully, chord by chord. Brilliant transition from one development to the next.
It took me about a year or so to play the piano piece on its whole - on and off, learn-unlearn-relearn. I was able to play it eventually (amateurishly), and even so, I was happy that I was able to play it no matter how horrible it sounded.
I moved around looking for other works by this French composer and loved several other compositions as well. His Two Arabesques each conjure a specific, memorable mood. The one I heard first is Arabesque No. 1, which lends a very romantic feeling. Heightens the mood as the work progresses and yet controlling that feeling, blossoming, opening up the soul. The recording I first had was not of the original intended piano piece, but had what sounded like a mini orchestra (a harp, strings, flute, and some brass instrument - maybe a horn or a trumpet). Not to compare with the piano version, but it was a charming interpretation, too. Depth and sheer beauty, the way those instruments blended together.
Debussy is a so-called impressionist composer. With impressionist music using the following definition (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism)
[Musical Impressionism is the name given to a movement in European classical music that arose in the late nineteenth century and continued into the middle of the twentieth century. Originating in France, musical Impressionism is characterized by suggestion and atmosphere, and eschews the emotional excesses of the Romantic era. Impressionist composers favored short forms such as the nocturne, arabesque, and prelude, and often explored uncommon scales such as the whole tone scale.
The influence of visual Impressionism on its musical counterpart is debatable. Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel are generally considered the greatest Impressionist composers, but Debussy disavowed the term, calling it the invention of critics. Musical Impressionism beyond France includes the work of such composers as Ralph Vaughan Williams and Ottorino Respighi.
The term Impressionism has also been used to describe works of literature in which a few select details suffice to convey the sensory impressions of an incident or scene. Impressionist literature is closely related to Symbolism, with its major exemplars being Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Rimbaud, and Verlaine. Authors such as Virginia Woolf and Joseph Conrad have written works which are Impressionistic in the way that they describe, rather than interpret, the impressions, sensations and emotions that constitute a character's mental life.]
My father introduced me to that term - impressionist music. My understanding was that it, well, creates an impression - conjures a certain image or visualization. Some of those that come to mind may be waterfalls, a mountain, midnight, dawn, children, dollhouse. Anything. I think this generally has some influence in the way I listen to Debussy - that it has to create some impression. His work, "Images" (in two sets of three movements each), for instance. The first movement of Images I is entitled "Reflets dans l'eau" / "Reflections in the Water". A title that without a doubt suggests something impressionistic. Lovely piece, with touches of modernity due to some atonalities in the piece. Small waves and ripples of lake water come to mind.
And there's also his L'Isle Joyeuse - a live piano performance of which I was able to watch in Raul Sunico's concert last August 2, 2006 in St. Paul's Auditorium. Awesome piece, brilliant interpretation.
Now, I wonder why Debussy rejects the term? Labeling issues, perhaps? But the music's great, it doesn't really matter.
Clair de Lune
Reflections in The Water (from Images Book I)
- Adam F. Jackson, Piano
- David Smith, Piano
L'Isle Joyeuse
- Francesco Libetta, Piano
- David Smith, Piano
Arabesque No. 1
2 Arabesques
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