- PB - EVENING IN GRANADA CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918) CLAUDE DEBUSSY 1 La soirée dans Grenade L.100 No.2 (St. Germain-en-Laye, 1872 – Paris, 1918) Orchestrated by Leopold Stokowski 1 La soirée dans Grenade L.100 No.2 (orch. Stokowski) [6.28] Claude Debussy was the father of La soirée dans Grenade (“Evening in Granada”) 2 Clair de Lune L.75 No.3 (orch. Caplet) [5.01] “Impressionism” in music. Inspired by such – the second of the tripartite piano set Estampes French painters as Monet, Renoir and Degas, (meaning “Prints” or “Engravings”) – was 3 Pagodes L.100 No.1 (orch. Grainger) [5.25] and poets of the “Symbolist” school, including published in 1903. Like other French composers, 4 La fille aux cheveux de lin L.125 No.8 (orch. Gleichmann) [3.10] Mallarmé, Verlaine and Baudelaire, he produced such as Chabrier with España, Ravel with compositions which sought to suggest – rather Rapsodie Espagnole and Boléro and Lalo with Nocturnes L.91 Women’s Voices of the Philharmonia Chorus than to display – the fleeting aspects of colour his Symphonie Espagnole, Debussy had more 5 I. Nuages [8.08] and light on imaginary scenes and subjects. than a passing feeling for the romance of Spain 6 II. Fêtes [6.12] With vibrant timbres and half-lit dream-worlds, despite visiting the country only once, to see a 7 III. Sirènes [10.18] his music was at the opposite extreme to the bullfight in San Sebastian. His superb evocation grandiose orgies of sound so beloved by Wagner of a sensuous, half-lit twilight in Granada is a 8 Première rapsodie L.124b [8.42] and Richard Strauss. Such were the evocative languid serenade, pulsing with the veiled rhythm James Campbell clarinet qualities of Debussy’s piano compositions – of a slow habañera. Conductor Leopold Stokowski Petite Suite L.71 (orch. Büsser) their nuances, moods, and even their exotic introduced his colourful orchestration of La soirée 9 En bateau [3.39] titles – that many musicians felt compelled to dans Grenade (Debussy’s original title) with the 0 Cortège [2.57] transcribe them for orchestra in the same way Philadelphia Orchestra on 27 November 1940 q Menuet [2.52] as Debussy himself had orchestrated two of in a “Concert for Youth” which began with the w Ballet [3.05] Satie’s piano Gymnopédies. The present selection maestro’s own transcription of Bach’s Toccata therefore includes several such arrangements and Fugue in D minor and concluded with Boléro. Total timings: [66.49] of Debussy’s most atmospheric pieces, framing the composer’s purely orchestral Nocturnes. PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA GEOFFREY SIMON CONDUCTOR calasignum.com - 3 - 2 Clair de Lune L.75 No.3 to foment for several years and in due course he Nocturnes L.91 Debussy himself provided his own commentary, Orchestrated by André Caplet put his musical thoughts on paper, with Pagodes 5 I. Nuage writing: “The title Nocturnes is to be interpreted becoming the first of the three Estampes of 1903. 6 II. Fêtes in a general and, more particularly, in a In the days of 78rpm records, Clair de Lune Grainger’s extraordinary 1928 arrangement – 7 III. Sirènes decorative sense. Therefore, it is not meant was recorded in almost as many orchestral for thirteen percussionists, four grand pianos, to designate the usual form of nocturne, but versions as in the piano original, something celesta, dulcitone and a harmonium – sets Nocturnes – another of Debussy’s three- rather all the impressions and the special which undoubtedly helped to make it Debussy’s, out to evoke with western instruments the movement works – dates from between 1897 effects of light that the word suggests. if not the world’s, most popular ‘miniature’. haunting sounds of the gamelan which had so and 1889. It epitomises his fascination with the Indeed, this music almost made it into Walt captivated the composer many years earlier. “feelings and impressions” in the art movements “Nuages renders the immutable aspect of the sky Disney’s Fantasia, where a pair of swooping of his time, whether in poetic literature or the and the solemn motion of the clouds, fading away white cranes, gently circling round a moonlit 4 La fille aux cheveux de lin L.125 No.8 great French impressionist painters. Initially, in grey tones, slightly tinged with white. Fêtes blue lagoon, would – had the sequence not been Orchestrated by William Gleichmann Debussy had the idea of writing three pieces gives us the vibrating, dancing rhythm of the omitted – have provided the cartoon movie’s for solo violin and orchestra but it was the atmosphere with sudden flashes of light. There most romantic visual images. It is André Caplet’s La fille aux cheveux de lin (“The Girl with series of oil paintings entitled Nocturnes by the is also the episode of the procession (a dazzling transcription which here provides this much-loved the Flaxen Hair”) is another short piece from American artist, James Whistler, which provided fantastic vision) which passes through the festive piano piece with delicate orchestral colourings. Debussy’s First Book of Twelve Preludes for the direct inspiration for this purely orchestral scene and becomes merged with it. But the Piano (the same volume which contains The triptych, first heard in complete form in 1901. background remains persistently the same: the 3 Pagodes L.100 No.1 Engulfed Cathedral). This “portrait of a maiden festival with its blending of music and luminous Orchestrated by Percy Grainger in diaphanous lines” was originally inspired by The music suggests the passing overhead of dust participating in the rhythm. Sirènes – the a poem of Leconte de Lisle which commenced: mysterious cloud formations in the first piece, sea and its innumerable rhythms; then amid the In the autumn of 1905, Percy Grainger gave the “Who, seated on the flowering lucerne, sings a kind of brilliant nocturnal festival in the billows silvered by the moon, the mysterious song first British performance of Debussy’sPagodes in the fresh morning air? It is the girl with second, and in the final section the distant of the sirens is heard; it laughs and passes.” in a piano recital at the Bechstein Hall in London. the flaxen hair, the beautiful girl with cherry voices of the sea nymphs of ancient mythology The music’s inspiration lay in the sounds of a lips...” In orchestral form, the simplicity of this (represented by a wordless female chorus) luring Javanese gamelan orchestra which Debussy had music takes on a particularly touching quality, sailors to their doom with voluptuous songs. heard in Paris at the Universal Exhibition of 1889. and is again in Debussy’s “pastoral” mood. The impressions created in his mind were allowed - 4 - - 5 - 8 Première rapsodie L.124b Petite Suite L.71 Keyboards and Percussion for Pagodes: For Clarinet and Orchestra Orchestrated by Henri Büsser Piers Lane, John Lavender, Ian Munro pianos 9 En bateau Penelope Thwaites dulcitone Although he called it his “First Rhapsody”, 0 Cortège Leslie Pearson harmonium Debussy didn’t write a second such composition q Menuet Michael Round celesta in this form. This particular example of a w Ballet David Corkhill, Christopher Terian, work for solo clarinet was devised as a test Heather Steadman mallets inside piano piece for the Paris Conservatoire in 1910 This four-movement suite for piano duet was Kevin Hathway xylophone and was one of a pair, the other being the written in 1889 and orchestrated by Debussy’s Eric Allen glockenspiel Petite Pièce for clarinet and piano. friend Henri Büsser in 1907. Like Debussy, Peter Fry, Charles Fullbrooke, Büsser studied at the Paris Conservatoire, was Gerald Kirby wooden marimbas Originally, the Rapsodie was also for a winner of the Prix de Rome, and in addition to Andrew Barclay, Peter Beaumont, clarinet and piano, but Debussy himself composing and conducting also orchestrated Jackie Kendle metal marimbas subsequently orchestrated the accompaniment Debussy’s Printemps. In the first piece, Debussy David Hockings, David Stirling tubular chimes and remarked that “it’s one of the easiest returns once more to music with water in the pieces on the ear I’ve ever written.” background, depicting a small boat gliding along in the moonlight. The light-hearted Cortège was perhaps inspired by a poem of Verlaine, wherein a pet monkey in a brocaded jacket trots in front of his mistress whilst she daintily flutters a delicate handkerchief. The Menuet was Debussy’s 1880s idea of an old classical dance, while the bright-toned finale brings to mind the ballet music of such masters of the genre as Delibes and Saint-Saëns. © Edward Johnson - 6 - - 7 - GEOFFREY SIMON Te Deum for the King and Queen of Spain, and with the Sacramento Symphony he created Australian conductor Geoffrey Simon is the World View series of concerts, attracting resident in London and has appeared there audiences from twenty non-European cultures. with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Geoffrey Simon is Music Director Emeritus of the Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Northwest Mahler Orchestra in Seattle, with which London Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart he has conducted the Mahler symphonic cycle and Players and English Chamber Orchestra. Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony. He is Consultant for Classical Special Projects for Arts Global (a Internationally, he has appeared with the foundation for emerging artists, London, Montreux Adelaide, Atlanta, Bournemouth, Canberra, and New York) and has served as a jury member City of Birmingham, Fort Worth, Melbourne, for Young Concert Artists, PianoTexas, Australian Milwaukee, Queensland, Sapporo, Shanghai, Cello Awards and Royal Over-Seas League. St Louis, Sydney, Tasmanian, Vermont and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, the Israel, Geoffrey Simon was a student of Herbert von Moscow, Munich and New Japan Philharmonic Karajan, Rudolf Kempe, Hans Swarowsky and Igor Orchestras, the American Symphony, the Markevich, and a major prize-winner at the first Residentie Orchestra of The Hague, the Tokyo John Player International Conductors’ Award.