Jeremy Denk gives a stunning performance of
Debussy's
Préludes! Full version in HD.
Claude Debussy's Préludes are two sets of pieces for solo piano. They are divided into two separate livres, or books, of twelve preludes each. Unlike previous collections of preludes, such as those of
J.S. Bach and
Chopin, Debussy's do not follow a strict pattern of key signatures.
Each book was written in a matter of months, at an unusually fast pace for Debussy.
Book I was written between
December 1909 and
February 1910, and
Book II between the last months of 1912 and early
April 1913.
Performance practice
There is no proof that Debussy necessarily intended the preludes to be performed as a cycle, although the musical language throughout each book is so consistent that performers often do so.
An important precedent was set on 3 May
1911 by the pianist
Jane Mortier (to whom works were dedicated by
Bohuslav Martinů[1] and
Erik Satie) who played the entire first book of preludes at the
Salle Pleyel in
Paris. The German-English pianist
Walter Morse Rummel, a student of
Leopold Godowsky, gave the premiere of the entire second book of preludes in 1913 in
London.
Initially, Debussy and other pianists who gave early performances of the works (including
Ricardo Viñes) played them in groups of three or four preludes, which remains a popular approach today. This allows performers to choose preludes with which they have the strongest affinity, or those to which their individual interpretive gifts are most suited.
There is a strong tonal relationship between the preludes that suggests that the published order of the preludes is not arbitrary. For example, the first three preludes in the first book (
Danseuses de Delphes, Voiles, and Le
Vent dans la Plaine) revolve around the key of B♭. In these first three preludes, allusions to the key of B♭ disappear and reappear, yet a strong sense of fluidity and connection between the preludes is still maintained.
However, the order of the preludes is not considered imperative, as is the case with
Chopin's preludes, for example. Several pianists have performed the set out of order, and at least one recording, by
Ivan Ilić, changes the order of the set entirely.
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Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Performed by: Jeremy Denk
Music by courtesy and under copyright of:
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Music license:
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Website: www.gardnermuseum.org
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- published: 11 May 2014
- views: 562