Debussy ordeal

In his excellent article on Debussy’s connections with England (April), Roger Nichols doesn’t mention the occasion when Arnold Bax was called in to play at an appreciation of Debussy at Alfred Kalisch’s Music Club in the composer’s 1909 visit. Bax wrote in his autobiography, Farewell, My Youth: ‘The great composer, an inordinately shy man, was planted in a chair in the exact centre of the platform facing the audience. He was clearly utterly nonplussed. This part of the ordeal over, he confided to Edwin Evans that he would rather write a symphony to order than go through such an experience again. Evans passed on to me the composer’s remark that I had interpreted his songs very sensitively, but in rather too pianistic a fashion. This verdict interested me deeply, for never before had I been arraigned on the count of playing like a pianist.’ Bax’s book, which is witty and full of gossip, is well worth reading on its own account.

Ben Janken, via email