Building a Library
We suggest further works to explore after hearing Debussy’s Préludes
The best recordings of Debussy’s Préludes for piano
In 2006, the British composer Colin Matthews completed his orchestration of both books of Debussy’s Préludes, presenting the works in a fascinating, and richly colourful, new light. Debussy himself would surely have been impressed with Matthews’s efforts, highlights of which include the exquisite delicacy of the muted strings and harp in
‘La fille aux cheveux de lin’ and the grandeur, tolling bells and all, of ‘La cathédrale engloutie’. (Hallé/mark Elder Hallé CD HLD 7527).
If we look towards Debussy’s own era, meanwhile, Ravel simply has to be included in any recommended listening list. The work that perhaps gets closest to the spirit and soundworld of Debussy’s Préludes is Ravel’s Miroirs of 1905, whose five movements range from the rippling textures of ‘Une barque sur l’océan’ and the echoey spaces of ‘La vallée des cloches’ to the fidgety high jinks of ‘Alborada del gracioso’. (Jean-yves Thibaudet (piano) Decca 433 5152).
The passage of time has not been so kind, alas, to another of Debussy’s contemporaries – Albert Roussel, whose often beguiling soundworld rarely gets a look-in in the concert hall today. Among his solo piano works, Roussel’s L’accueil des muses was actually written in memory of Debussy, though it’s his Rustiques of 1906 that bear a closer resemblance to the Préludes. The work’s three vividly depicted movements take us, in turn, to a dance beside the water, into the forest and to a lively celebration
(Eric Parkin (piano) Chandos CHAN 8887).
Though better known today as the teacher extraordinaire of many of the 20th century’s finest composers, Debussy’s fellow Parisian Nadia Boulanger did also find time to write her own works. These include, from 1914, her Three Piano Pieces. The titles –
Nos 1, 2 & 3 – don’t give much away but, with its repeated motif of three Ds, No. 1 in particular conjures up a world in which time stands still.
(Lucy Mauro (piano) Delos DE3496).
The pianist Stephen Hough is among a number of those to have pointed out the influence of Debussy’s Préludes on the jazz pianist Bill Evans, whose lingering, wandering style and clever harmonic shifts have a similarly intoxicating effect. Hear for yourself on Evans’s 1968 solo album Alone.
(Bill Evans (piano) Verve Records V6-8792).
Nadia Boulanger conjures up a world in which time stands still