DOCSLIB.ORG

TEM 72-284 Cdsdvds 84..90

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
TEM 72-284 Cdsdvds 84..90 cdS and dvdS 89 fracturing reflected in Watanabe’s German title. DUO IMAGINAIRE: Japanese Echoes, Hommage à Francesco Filidei’s Corde Vuote (Open Strings) dif- Claude Debussy. Chromart Classics, TYXart TXA17099 fers from the other pieces on the recording in its concentration on the violin and cello (the piano In the midst of the Japonisme-craze that over- enters for the first time halfway through the took the Paris art scene in the years around piece), and its more constrained approach to 1900, Claude Debussy insisted on having materials and development. The placid flow of Hokusai’s iconic Under the Wave off Kanagawa the work, along with the ringing sustains of as the cover of the first edition of La Mer in the open strings and harmonics, appears to ani- 1905. The composer himself possessed a print, mate and anthropomorphize the strings into a which hung in his living room. set of gently respirating lungs. Notwithstanding That being said, the influence of Japanese art its consistency, the piece also contains several is often described as being subtler in Debussy’s deftly handled harmonic twists, particularly oeuvre compared to his more exoticism-oriented two-thirds of the way through, prior to its grad- contemporaries such as Saint-Saëns and Sullivan. ual, semi-retrograde exhalation. His entry is more abstract, through relating to Where the strength of Filidei’s piece rests in his the way space and timbre are treated in Japanese effortless and restrained application of open string music. ’Music is the space between notes’ spectra, in Il colore dell’ombra, Clara Iannotta delves Debussy declared. Whether or not he knowingly further into spectrality via colour theory. echoed the Japanese culture of ‘ma’,or‘sensibil- Iannotta’s powerful work can partially be heard ity for the space between’, the parallel is at- through the filter of French impressionist painters, tractive. This didn’t of course prevent eastern who adopted Eugène Chevreul’s research into pentatonic scales from making multiple cameo separating effects of light, and chiaroscuro. From appearances. Chevreul, Renoir gleaned that ‘No shadow is Duo Imaginaire wanted to give six Japanese black. It always has a colour. Nature knows only composers the opportunity to return the favour. colours’. Subsequently, shadow colour was no To bring out the Japanese in Debussy, as well as longer considered primary tone plus darkness, Debussy in the expression of the cosmopolitan but a fine composite of pigments and their oppo- Japanese composers. Many of them have studied sites. Similarly, Monet’s 20 paintings of the at key institutions of Central European modern- Rouen Cathedral (1892–94) investigate the fleet- ism or with prestigious teachers of the same ing, changing light, colour and shadow on the vein. In the global village, Debussy should self- structure at different times of day, different evidently be considered part of their heritage. times of year, and in different weather conditions. The 50–50 gender balance of the commissions Music, on the other hand, has the advantage of is laudable. uninterrupted mobility through time, which is Each composer chose one of the préludes to fundamental to Il colore dell’ombra’s achievement. precede their work in a call and answer. A liter- In the first section, ‘Passage com un velo’, the loo- ary twin of this kind of programming principle is sened strings offer a dark, guttural quality to the ‘Waka’ or Japanese respondent poetry, where a transitory tone colourings of the cello, supported tanka-metre poem is written in response to by the radiant cyclic rumbling of low piano harmo- another – perhaps as an exchange of love-letters nics. ‘D’un fiato’ (in one breath) continues the or a political debate. These six preludes were muscular deployment of extreme registers from then arranged by Duo Imaginaire’s harpist the first movement, receding to calm, whistling Simone Seiler and clarinettist John Corbett. harmonics in the strings. The brief final move- The rapport is very clear in all the pieces, ment shimmies along like shifting colour filters, which is not always a virtue. In the last pair, crossing, accumulating, and separating back in a Asako Miyaki’s response The garden of afterimage mysterious continuity that quickly accelerates to II – butterfly pattern starts from the second chord its conclusion. of Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir Overlooking the awkward, under-edited liner and attempts to gather momentum through pin- notes, Passage is an inspired debut album, on ning onto Debussy’s contour. Unfortunately, which Longleash is tethered to tight playing Miyaki’s work never manages to catch wind. and bound together in lucid interpretations of The unambitious fragments follow each other the music. without audible reason, and so remain intro- verted and insular. Paul Steenhuisen Satoshi Minami’s Soundprint No.4 manages 10.1017/S0040298217001371 better to keep the characteristic drive and flow of La danse de Puck, mirroring its abundant use Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 2.220.208.2, on 30 Apr 2018 at 16:27:38, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0040298217001383 90 tempo of dotted rhythms and mapping the clarinet line a few minutes of strange dialogue between often directly onto Debussy’s line. Minami struc- twentieth- and twenty-first-century aesthetics. tures the harmony of the work on a tangible Omura writes a pastiche of Debussy until little three-note motive, which arches right through over halfway into the piece, where her own to the end. The album’s orchestration is at its voice beautifully comes to the fore. Here, un- most inventive here: the harp is prepared with shaded, is a transparent and spacious harp paper sheets in the lowest register, and the clari- solo intertwined with clarinet multiphonics net plays with its bell hovering over a snare- and timbral trills beautifully enunciated by drum. This conjures an imaginary third per- Corbett. Overall, Omura succeeds in an orches- former, a ghost pipe-and-drum player, enhancing tral sound, as if the work were scored for the dance-character of the work. more than two instruments. The wintery imagery of Des pas sur la neige is Again, it is the opening gesture of Debussy seamlessly continued by Yasuko Yamaguchi’s Die that sparks its sister. Meditating on the F# that Entdeckung der Freude im Schnee. The works share begins Feuilles mortes, the melodic permutation an initial motive, from which Yamaguchi quickly that ensues in Takayuki Rai’s Misty Stillness fans out. A fast forward through twentieth- brings to mind a potentiometer: Rai rolls the century instrumentation ensues, ending in glis- knob subtly from Debussy to rigorous post-serial sandi and timbral trills. The narrative of the harmony at crucial points. The approach is that work is very evocative of the title, ending with of a sentimental scientist. Research into the the clarinet shivering in the cold. The exhilarant, many subtle spectres of harp and clarinet unison repetitive gestures in the distinctive middle part is ornamented with quaint flashbacks. are suggestive of a syllabic metre and unques- The Debussy arrangements are streamlined tionably her own. and devout to the style and period of the After Canope comes a welcomingly long clari- préludes. They are orchestrated according to net solo. Most of the pieces have both instruments the period. Debussy writes music for horns, playing all the time. Here, in Takashi Fuji’s flutes, wind machines and harps, all this arsenal Annotation on a Japanese Lullaby there is space. having to be realised with only the white and Fuji first lets the single line fork into polyphony black keys at hand. Duo Imaginaire slightly before introducing quarter-tones, poetically re- enhances this colour palette, albeit leaving the instating a – to our ears microtonal – pentatonic contemporary expansion of the misty sound col- sound that Debussy would have heard at the ours and orchestrational techniques to the Paris World Fairs of 1889 and 1900. The scorda- composers. tura of the harp and the carefully placed melodic The roles of the clarinet and the harp remain microtones in the clarinet grown beautifully unswapped throughout, the clarinet carrying the from one another. Here Fuji audaciously presents solistic line and the harp the accompanying fig- a fragile foreign object. A short traditional ures. This is the obvious starting point for such Japanese lullaby appears, continent and tasteful, an ensemble, so therefore there’s an incentive just moments before the work culminates in a to be inventive and look for ways to break this microtonal fanfare in impressive unison. setup. Des pas sur la neige and Brouillards indeed Moments of complex clarity such as this one are do so, transforming the preludes into glorious otherwise mostly found in Debussy’s contribution dwellings into Simone Seiler’s sound. Magnetic to the album. together, Duo Imaginaire seek and find a great Kumiko Omura’s counterpart À travers le variety of ways to express their musicality – brouillard starts where Brouillards ends, setting even within austere concision. the same diatonic standard and quickly going away from the quiet and settled. Metallic Lauri Supponen multiphonics and a low half-pedal rattle herald 10.1017/S0040298217001383 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 2.220.208.2, on 30 Apr 2018 at 16:27:38, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0040298217001383.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Des Pas Sur La Neige
    19TH CENTURY MUSIC Mystères limpides: Time and Transformation in Debussy’s Des pas sur la neige Debussy est mystérieux, mais il est clair. —Vladimir Jankélévitch STEVEN RINGS Introduction: Secrets and Mysteries sive religious orders). Mysteries, by contrast, are fundamentally unknowable: they are mys- Vladimir Jankélévitch begins his 1949 mono- teries for all, and for all time. Death is the graph Debussy et le mystère by drawing a dis- ultimate mystery, its essence inaccessible to tinction between the secret and the mystery. the living. Jankélévitch proposes other myster- Secrets, per Jankélévitch, are knowable, but ies as well, some of them idiosyncratic: the they are known only to some. For those not “in mysteries of destiny, anguish, pleasure, God, on the secret,” the barrier to knowledge can love, space, innocence, and—in various forms— take many forms: a secret might be enclosed in time. (The latter will be of particular interest a riddle or a puzzle; it might be hidden by acts in this article.) Unlike the exclusionary secret, of dissembling; or it may be accessible only to the mystery, shared and experienced by all of privileged initiates (Jankélévitch cites exclu- humanity, is an agent of “sympathie fraternelle et . commune humilité.”1 An abbreviated version of this article was presented as part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison music collo- 1Vladimir Jankélévitch, Debussy et le mystère (Neuchâtel: quium series in November 2007. I am grateful for the Baconnière, 1949), pp. 9–12 (quote, p. 10). See also his later comments I received on that occasion from students and revision and expansion of the book, Debussy et le mystère faculty.
    [Show full text]
  • Debussy Préludes
    Debussy Préludes Books I & II RALPH VOTAPEK ~ Debussy 24 Préludes Préludes, Book I (1909-1910) 37:13 1 I. Danseuses de Delphes (Lent et grave) 2:59 2 II. Voiles (Modéré) 3:09 3 III. Le vent dans la plaine (Animé) 2:07 4 IV. Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir (Modéré) 3:10 5 V. Les collines d’Anacapri (Très modéré) 2:57 6 VI. Des pas sur la neige (Triste it lent) 3:47 7 VII. Ce qu’a vu le vent d’Ouest (Animé et tumultueux) 3:23 8 VIII. La fille aux cheveux de lin (Très calme et doucement expressif) 2:29 9 IX. La sérénade interrompue (Modérément animé) 2:28 10 X. La cathédrale engloutie (Profondément calme) 5:54 11 XI. La danse de Puck (Capricieux et léger) 2:40 12 XII. Minstrels (Modéré) 2:10 Préludes, Book II (1912-1913) 36:04 13 I. Brouillards (Modéré) 2:38 14 II. Feuilles mortes (Lent et mélancolique) 2:55 15 III. La Puerta del Vino (Mouvement de Habanera) 3:19 16 IV. Les Fées sont d’exquises danseuses (Rapide et léger) 2:56 17 V. Bruyères (Calme) 2:42 18 VI. Général Lavine — eccentric (Dans le style et le mouvement d’un Cakewalk) 2:28 19 VII. La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune (Lent) 3:59 20 VIII. Ondine (Scherzando) 3:08 21 IX. Hommage à Samuel Pickwick, Esq., P.P.M.P.C. (Grave) 2:25 22 X. Canope (Très calme et doucement triste) 2:53 23 XI.
    [Show full text]
  • Liner Notes (PDF)
    Debussy’s Traces Gaillard • Horszowski • Debussy Marik • Fourneau 1904 – 1983 Debussy’s Traces: Marius François Gaillard, CD II: Marik, Ranck, Horszowski, Garden, Debussy, Fourneau 1. Preludes, Book I: La Cathédrale engloutie 4:55 2. Preludes, Book I: Minstrels 1:57 CD I: 3. Preludes, Book II: La puerta del Vino 3:10 Marius-François Gaillard: 4. Preludes, Book II: Général Lavine 2:13 1. Valse Romantique 3:30 5. Preludes, Book II: Ondine 3:03 2. Arabesque no. 1 3:00 6. Preludes, Book II Homage à S. Pickwick, Esq. 2:39 3. Arabesque no. 2 2:34 7. Estampes: Pagodes 3:56 4. Ballade 5:20 8. Estampes: La soirée dans Grenade 4:49 5. Mazurka 2:52 Irén Marik: 6. Suite Bergamasque: Prélude 3:31 9. Preludes, Book I: Des pas sur la neige 3:10 7. Suite Bergamasque: Menuet 4:53 10. Preludes, Book II: Les fées sont d’exquises danseuses 8. Suite Bergamasque: Clair de lune 4:07 3:03 9. Pour le Piano: Prélude 3:47 Mieczysław Horszowski: Childrens Corner Suite: 10. Pour le Piano: Sarabande 5:08 11. Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum 2:48 11. Pour le Piano: Toccata 3:53 12. Jimbo’s lullaby 3:16 12. Masques 5:15 13 Serenade of the Doll 2:52 13. Estampes: Pagodes 3:49 14. The snow is dancing 3:01 14. Estampes: La soirée dans Grenade 3:53 15. The little Shepherd 2:16 15. Estampes: Jardins sous la pluie 3:27 16. Golliwog’s Cake walk 3:07 16. Images, Book I: Reflets dans l’eau 4:01 Mary Garden & Claude Debussy: Ariettes oubliées: 17.
    [Show full text]
  • Orientalism As Represented in the Selected Piano Works by Claude Debussy
    Chapter 4 ORIENTALISM AS REPRESENTED IN THE SELECTED PIANO WORKS BY CLAUDE DEBUSSY A prominent English scholar of French music, Roy Howat, claimed that, out of the many composers who were attracted by the Orient as subject matter, “Debussy is the one who made much of it his own language, even identity.”55 Debussy and Hahn, despite being in the same social circle, never pursued an amicable relationship.56 Even while keeping their distance, both composers were somewhat aware of the other’s career. Hahn, in a public statement from 1890, praised highly Debussy’s musical artistry in L'Apres- midi d'un faune.57 Debussy’s Exposure to Oriental Cultures Debussy’s first exposure to oriental art and philosophy began at Mallarmé’s Symbolist gatherings he frequented in 1887 upon his return to Paris from Rome.58 At the Universal Exposition of 1889, he had his first experience in the theater of Annam (Vietnam) and the Javanese Gamelan orchestra (Indonesia), which is said to be a catalyst 55Roy Howat, The Art of French Piano Music: Debussy, Ravel, Fauré, Chabrier (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2009), 110 56Gavoty, 142. 57Ibid., 146. 58François Lesure and Roy Howat. "Debussy, Claude." In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/07353 (accessed April 4, 2011). 33 34 in his artistic direction. 59 In 1890, Debussy was acquainted with Edmond Bailly, esoteric and oriental scholar, who took part in publishing and selling some of Debussy’s music at his bookstore L’Art Indépendeant. 60 In 1902, Debussy met Louis Laloy, an ethnomusicologist and music critic who eventually became Debussy’s most trusted friend and encouraged his use of Oriental themes.61 After the Universal Exposition in 1889, Debussy had another opportunity to listen to a Gamelan orchestra 11 years later in 1900.
    [Show full text]
  • Richard Goode, Piano
    CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS PROGRAM Sunday, January 19, 2014, 3pm Claude Debussy (1862–1918) Préludes, Book I (1909–1910) Zellerbach Hall Danseuses de Delphes Voiles Le vent dans la plaine Richard Goode, piano Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir Les collines d’Anacapri Des pas sur la neige Ce qu’a vu le vent d’Ouest PROGRAM La fille aux cheveux de lin La sérénade interrompue La Cathédrale engloutie La danse de Puck Leoš Janáček (1854–1928) From On an Overgrown Path (1901–1911) Minstrels Our Evenings A Blown-Away Leaf The program is subject to change. Come with Us! Good Night! Robert Schumann (1810–1856) Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6 (1837) Lebhaft Innig Mit humor Ungeduldig Einfach Funded, in part, by the Koret Foundation, this performance is part of Cal Performances’ Sehr rasch 2013–2014 Koret Recital Series, which brings world-class artists to our community. Nicht schnell Frisch This concert is dedicated to the memory of Donald Glaser (1926–2013). Lebhaft Balladenmäßig — Sehr rasch Cal Performances’ 2013–2014 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. Einfach Mit Humor Wild und lustig Zart und singend Frisch Mit gutem Humor Wie aus der Ferne Nicht schnell INTERMISSION 2 3 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES Leoš Janáček (1854–1928) birthday. “I would bind Jenůfa simply with the anguish”) and In Tears (“crying with a smile”). Linda Siegel described as vacillating between Selections from On an Overgrown Path black ribbon of the long illness, suffering and After On an Overgrown Path was published in “fits of depression with complete loss of reality laments of my daughter, Olga,” Janáček con- 1911, Janáček composed a second series of aph- and periods of seemingly placid adjustment to Composed in 1901–1902, 1908, and 1911.
    [Show full text]
  • Debussy Préludes Children’S Corner Paavali Jumppanen
    DEBUSSY PRÉLUDES CHILDREN’S CORNER PAAVALI JUMPPANEN 1 CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918) CD 1 Préludes I 1 I. Danseuses de Delphes 3:46 2 II. Voiles 3:50 3 III. Le vent dans la plaine 2:15 4 IV. « Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir » 4:37 5 V. Les collines d’Anacapri 3:29 6 VI. Des pas sur la neige 4:16 7 VII. Ce qu’a vu le vent d’Ouest 3:40 8 VIII. La fille aux cheveux de lin 2:59 9 IX. La sérénade interrompue 2:42 10 X. La cathédrale engloutie 7:15 11 XI. La danse de Puck 2:50 12 XII. Minstrels 2:32 44:11 2 CD 2 Préludes II 1 I. Brouillards 3:17 2 II. Feuilles mortes 3:42 3 III. La puerta del Vino 3:26 4 IV. « Les fées sont d’exquises danseuses » 3:14 5 V. Bruyères 3:24 6 VI. « General Lavine » – eccentric – 2:35 7 VII. La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune 5:23 8 VIII. Ondine 3:37 9 IX. Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C. 2:37 10 X. Canope 3:50 11 XI. Les tierces alternées 2:32 12 XII. Feux d’artifice 4:49 Children’s Corner 13 I. Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum 2:20 14 II. Jimbo’s Lullaby 3:50 15 III. Serenade for the Doll 2:41 16 IV. The snow is dancing 2:48 17 V. The little Shepherd 3:31 18 VI. Golliwogg’s cake walk 3:02 60:38 PAAVALI JUMPPANEN, piano 3 CLAUDE DEBUSSY 4 Debussy’s Musical Imagery “I try to create something different–in a sense realities–and these imbeciles call it Impressionism” Claude Debussy Claude Debussy (1862–1918) cherished enigmatic statements and left behind conflicting remarks about the issue of musical imagery: on the one hand, he thought it was “more important to see a sunrise than to hear the Pastoral Symphony,” while on the other hand, as he wrote in a letter to the composer Edgar Varèse, he “liked images as much as music.” Debussy’s nuanced relationship with the worldly inspirations of his music links him with the artistic movement known as Symbolism.
    [Show full text]
  • CRPH106 URBANA 66 Oec410e.105 EMS PRICE MF $O,45 HC...$11,60 340P
    N080....630 ERIC REPORT RESUME ED 013 040 9..02..66 24 (REV) THE THEORY OFEXPECATION APPLIEDTO MUSICAL COLWELL, RICHARD LISTENING GFF2I3O1 UNIVERSITYOF ILLINOIS, CRPH106 URBANA 66 OEC410e.105 EMS PRICE MF $O,45 HC...$11,60 340P. *MUSIC EDUCATION, *MUSIC TECHNIQUES,*LISTENING SKILLS, *TEACHING METHODS,FIFTH GRADES LISTENING, SURVEYS, ILLINFrLS,URSAMA THE PROJECT PURPOSES WERE TO IDENTIFY THEELEMENTS IN MUSICUSED BY EXPERT LISTENERS INDETERMINING THE ARTISTIC DISCOVER WHAT VALUE OF MUSICS TO MUSICAL SKILLS ANDKNOWLEDGES ARE NECESSARY/ LISTENER TO RECOGNIZE FOR THE THESE ELEMENTS, ANDTO USE THESE CMIPARiSON WITH A FINDINGS IN A SPECIFIC AESTHETICTHEORY. ATTEMPTSWERE PACE TO DETERMINE WHETHERTHESE VALUE ELEMENTSARE TEACHABLE, LEVELS AT WHICH IF SOS THE AGE THEY ARE TEACHABLE,THE CREATION OF EVALUATE RECOGNITION MEASUREMEN7S TO OF THESE ELEMENTS,AND THE SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGES USED* THE TWO PROBLEMSSTUDIED WERE (1) THE KNOWLEDGES A STUDENT SKIMAS AND WOULD NEED TO PARTICIPATEIN THE MUSICAL EXPERIENCE AS DESCRIBEDBY MEYER S THEORY WHETHER THESE OF EXPECTATIONAND (2) PROBLEMS COULD BETAUGHT WITHIN A 2 FIFTH GRADE CHILDREN* YEAR PERIOD TO THE TOTAL LIST OFSKILLS AND KNOWLEDGES (APPROPRIATE FORMUSICAL LISTENINGAND GATHERED FROM EXPERTS) WAS OBVIOUSLY THE MUSICAL MUCH TOO EXTENSIVEAND DIFFICULT TOUTILIZE IN A ONE YEARGRADE SCHOOLCOURSE. TWENTY SEVEN WERE USED IN FIF=TH GRADE CLASSES INTERPRETING THERESULTS OF THE STUDYAND DRAW FROM THEM*APPROXIMATELY 10 PERCENTOP THE TESTSMEW THESE CLASSESWERE HIGHLYCOMMENDABLE, WITH MELODIES, CONTRASTING CADENCES, PHASESS PARTS, TIMBRE, ANDCI IMAXES ALLCORRECTLY IDENTIFIED AND MARKED.TWO VIEWPOINTS RESULTED FROM THESTUDV...(1) DESIRABILITY OF ANEARO,Y START ININTENSIVE MUSICAL THE IMPRACTICABILII"E LEARNING AND (2) OF TEACHING ADEQUATEMUSICAL SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGES WITHINTHE EXISTING ELEMENTARY MUSICFRAMEWORK BECAUSE OF LIMITED TIME ALLOWED,(GC) U.
    [Show full text]
  • La Cathédrale Engloutie from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    La cathédrale engloutie From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia La cathédrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral) is a prelude written by the French composer Claude Debussy for solo piano. It was published in 1910 as the tenth prelude in Debussy’s first of two volumes of twelve piano preludes each. It is characteristic of Debussy in its form, harmony, and content. The "organ chords" feature parallel harmony. Contents 1 Musical impressionism 2 Legend of Ys 3 Musical analysis 3.1 Form 3.2 Thematic/motivic structure 3.3 Context 3.4 Parallelism 4 Secondary Parameters 5 Arrangements 6 Notes 7 External links Musical impressionism This prelude is an example of Debussy's musical impressionism in that it is a musical depiction, or allusion, of an image or idea. Debussy quite often named his pieces with the exact image that he was composing about, like La Mer, Des pas sur la neige, or Jardins sous la pluie. In the case of the two volumes of preludes, he places the title of the piece at the end of the piece, either to allow the pianist to respond intuitively and individually to the music before finding out what Debussy intended the music to sound like, or to apply more ambiguity to the music's allusion. [1] Because this piece is based on a legend, it can be considered program music. Legend of Ys This piece is based on an ancient Breton myth in which a cathedral, submerged underwater off the coast of the Island of Ys, rises up from the sea on clear mornings when the water is transparent.
    [Show full text]
  • The Consecutive-Semitone Constraint on Scalar Structure: a Link Between Impressionism and Jazz1
    The Consecutive-Semitone Constraint on Scalar Structure: A Link Between Impressionism and Jazz1 Dmitri Tymoczko The diatonic scale, considered as a subset of the twelve chromatic pitch classes, possesses some remarkable mathematical properties. It is, for example, a "deep scale," containing each of the six diatonic intervals a unique number of times; it represents a "maximally even" division of the octave into seven nearly-equal parts; it is capable of participating in a "maximally smooth" cycle of transpositions that differ only by the shift of a single pitch by a single semitone; and it has "Myhill's property," in the sense that every distinct two-note diatonic interval (e.g., a third) comes in exactly two distinct chromatic varieties (e.g., major and minor). Many theorists have used these properties to describe and even explain the role of the diatonic scale in traditional tonal music.2 Tonal music, however, is not exclusively diatonic, and the two nondiatonic minor scales possess none of the properties mentioned above. Thus, to the extent that we emphasize the mathematical uniqueness of the diatonic scale, we must downplay the musical significance of the other scales, for example by treating the melodic and harmonic minor scales merely as modifications of the natural minor. The difficulty is compounded when we consider the music of the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in which composers expanded their musical vocabularies to include new scales (for instance, the whole-tone and the octatonic) which again shared few of the diatonic scale's interesting characteristics. This suggests that many of the features *I would like to thank David Lewin, John Thow, and Robert Wason for their assistance in preparing this article.
    [Show full text]
  • THESIS for the Degree of MASTER of MUSIC by Mary Nan Hudgins, B. Mus. January, 1956
    AX)a A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE PRELUDES (BOOK I) OF CLAUDE DEBUSSY THESIS Presented. to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF MUSIC By Mary Nan Hudgins, B. Mus. Denton, Texas January, 1956 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . ....... ... iv Chapter I. HISTORY OF THEPRELUDE. .......... II. THE PRELUDES (BOOK I) OF DEBUSSY . 18 III. CONCLUSION. ... ... ...... .. 59 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 62 iii LIST OF ILLUST RAT IONS Figure Page 1. "Prelude," from the Ileboroh Tablature. 3 2. "Organ Prelude," from the Buxheim gan Book. 5 3. Intonazione by Andrea Gabrieli. 8 4. "Praeludium," Number 1, from The CopL. Works of Louis Couperin. 11 5. Measures 1-4 of Danseuses deDelhes. 24 6. Measures 4-5 of Danseuses deDelhes. 25 7. Measures 27-28 of Danseuses de 2Eheas. 25 8. Measures 1-2?of Voiles. 26 9. Measures 5-9 of Voiles. 27 10. Measures 23-24 of Voiles. 28 11. Measures 1-2 of Le Vent dans la plaine. 29 12. a) Measures 9-10, b) Measures 30-31 of Le Vent dans la plane . 30 13. Measures 38-39 of Te Vent dans 1,.plaine. 31 14. Measures 57-59 of Le Vent dans Ia plaine. 32 15. Measures 52-53 of Les sons et les parfums tournent dans 1'air du soir. 34 16. Measures 1-2 of Les collines d'Ana ri . 35 17. Measures 14-15 of Les collines d'Anacapri . 36 18. Measures 31-35 of Les collines d'Anacapri* 37 19.
    [Show full text]
  • Programs Built on a Concept  Programs That Include Newer Repertoire  Conventional Programs with a Twist
    Sample Solo Recital Programs of Classical Pianists Compiled by the Music Entrepreneurship & Career Center, Updated March 2016 We offer these programs, organized in the following three categories, to help rising pianists develop innovative programs of their own: Programs Built on a Concept Programs that Include Newer Repertoire Conventional Programs with a Twist Programs Built on a Concept Lara Downes The Story of a Steinway The Piano is Born Ludwig van Beethoven: "Hammerklavier" Sonata The Piano Soars Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne Op. 23 #1 The Piano Roars Sergei Prokofiev: Toccata Op. 11 The Piano Swings George Gershwin: I Got Rhythm The Piano Sings from The Billie Holiday Songbook, arr. Jed Distler The Piano Today Nico Muhly: Running Shao-Hsun Chang Govans Presbyterian Church, Baltimore; May 5, 2013 Feathered Friends: Great Composers Celebrate Birdsong Jean-Philippe Rameau Le rappel des oiseaux (Bird Calls) Jean-Philippe Rameau La poule (The Hen) Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata No. 25 in G Major, Op. 79, “Cuckoo” Franz Liszt from Deux Légendes, S. 175: -No. 1: La predication aux oiseaux (Sermon to the Birds) Olivier Messiaen Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus -No. 8: Regard des Hauteurs (Contemplation of the Heights) Jenny Q Chai Spectrum NYC, New York City; May 7, 2013 Acqua Alta (High Water): A Program about Global Warming Domenico Scarlatti Sonatas György Kurtág Hommage à Domenico Scarlatti Orlando Gibbons Italian Ground (1613) Marco Stroppa Ninnananna from Miniature Estrose Claude Debussy Prelude: La cathédrale engloutie Maurice Ravel Une barque sur l’océan from Miroirs Franz Liszt La lugubre gondola Nils Vigeland I Turisti* Milica Paranosic Bubble* Michael Vincent Waller Acqua Santa* John Cage Water Walk * pieces written for Jenny Chai Sample Piano Programs, p.
    [Show full text]
  • Parting the Veils of Debussy's Voiles Scottish Music Review
    Parting the Veils of Debussy’s Voiles David Code Lecturer in Music, University of Glasgow Scottish Music Review Abstract Restricted to whole-tone and pentatonic scales, Debussy’s second piano prelude, Voiles, often serves merely to exemplify both his early modernist musical language and his musical ‘Impressionism’. Rejecting both arid theoretical schemes and vague painterly visions, this article reconsiders the piece as an outgrowth of the particular Mallarméan lessons first instantiated years earlier in the Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. In developing a conjecture by Renato di Benedetto, and taking Mallarmé’s dance criticism as stimulus to interpretation, the analysis makes distinctive use of video-recorded performance to trace the piece’s choreography of hands and fingers on the keyboard’s music-historical stage. A contribution by example to recent debates about the promises and pitfalls of performative or ‘drastic’ analysis (to use the term Carolyn Abbate adopted from Vladimir Jankélévitch), the article ultimately adumbrates, against the background of writings by Dukas and Laloy, a new sense of Debussy’s pianistic engagement with the pressing questions of his moment in the history of modernism. I will try to glimpse, through musical works, the multiple movements that gave birth to them, as well as all that they contain of the inner life: is that not rather more interesting than the game that consists of taking them apart like curious watches? -Claude Debussy1 Clichés and Questions A favourite of the anthologies and survey texts, Debussy’s second piano prelude, Voiles (‘sails’ or ‘veils’), has attained near-iconic status as the most characteristic single exemplar of his style.
    [Show full text]