The “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune” is arguably Debussy’s most famous work. Inspired by the French poet Stéphane Mallarmé’s eclogue “L’après-midi d’un faune,” it evokes a sun-drenched landscape inhabited by nymphs and a sensuous faun. His longing is expressed in the languid flute melody that opens the work. “I truly admire this orchestra and hope it becomes better known abroad,” confided Leonard Bernstein in 1989 to the audience in Rome’s Auditorio Pio before his concert of works by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) with the prestigious “Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia.” In the words of Rome’s “Il Giornale,” Bernstein served up a “Debussy that is neither ethereal nor shapeless, but uncommonly vital, caught in the full light of noon.”
Debussy, La Mer
The Philadelphia Orchestra was founded in 1900. Eugene Ormandy (1899-1985) stood at its head as principal conductor from 1936 to 1980. Continuing the work of his predecessor Leopold Stokowski, he turned the orchestra into one of the leading ensembles not only of the United States, but of the world. Under his direction, the orchestra became renowned in particular for its performances of late romantic and early 20th-century music.
Debussy, La mer
“The sea has been very good to me”, wrote Debussy to his publisher shortly before he finished “La Mer”. “She has shown me all her moods.” Debussy began his three symphonic sketches in 1903. The work was premiered in Paris on 15 October 1905. The first piece, “From Dawn Until Noon on the Sea”, begins with low, sustained strings which give an impression of the immense power of the ocean. In the second piece, “The Play of the Waves”, the ocean whips itself into a fury, with rainbow colorings appearing and vanishing in fountains of spray. The “Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea” opens on a deep, threatening note, as if announcing a coming storm. After a siren-like call, the chorale heard in the first movement returns in an exultant climax. “I truly admire this orchestra and hope it becomes better known abroad,” confided Leonard Bernstein in 1989 to the audience in Rome’s Auditorio Pio before his concert of works by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) with the prestigious “Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia.” In the words of Rome’s “Il Giornale,” Bernstein served up a “Debussy that is neither ethereal nor shapeless, but uncommonly vital, caught in the full light of noon.”
Hélène Grimaud – Woodlands and beyond…
Together with photographer Mat Hennek, French star pianist Hélène Grimaud, comes up with a multimedia concert project at the Grand Hall of Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. Grimaud’s virtuous piano performance is accompanied by Hennek’s highly praised photo series “Woodlands”, which depicts genuine portraits of trees, Grimaud’s piano recital includes works by romantic and impressionistic composers. They are connected by seven “Transitions”, written exclusively for Grimaud by British composer and DJ Nitin Sawhney.
The motives of Hennek’s Woodlands series create an extraordinary visual backdrop, which in combination with Grimaud´s pianistic “impeccable clarity and articulation” (Hamburger Abendblatt) and the Elbphilharmonie’s splendid acoustics grants a concert experience of a special kind.
Leonard Bernstein conducts Debussy
With his legendary ability to conjure up magical sonorities, Leonard Bernstein offers his definitive reading of Debussy´s impressionistic sound worlds. His series of concerts with Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome was recorded in 1989, the year before his death, and featured three of the French composer´s masterpieces. Images, La Mer and Prélude à l´après-midi d´un faune, in a feast of Mediterranean sesuality.
“Bernstein´s Debussy is neither ethereal nor gelatinous, but uncommonly vital, caught in the full light of the midday sun” (Il Giornale, Rome).
“An unprecedented triumph” (La Stampa, Turin).
In Rehearsal: Esa-Pekka Salonen
Featuring some of today’s leading conductors in rehearsal, this series gives a unique insight into the process of creating great music. The conductors’ very different styles and methods; the dialogue between an orchestra and an inspired interpreter; the intensity of the preparations for a concert performance; and the struggle towards perfection are captured in these revealing audio-visual records. Most episodes include a full run-through of the work rehearsed. All include interviews with the conductor who is seen at work. Esa-Pekka Salonen rehearses and performs Debussy’s impressionistic orchestral piece, La Mer, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Directed
by Peter Berggren 56′
Recital Cyprien Katsaris
Piano virtuoso Cyprien Katsaris plays Debussy’s Clair de lune from the Suite bergamasque, Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte, Saint-Saëns’ The Swan (arranged by Godowsky), Brahms’ Sonata No. 3 in F minor Op. 5 and his own composition to celebrate European unity, Fantasie sur des hymnes. Each performance is introduced by Katsaris, who illustrates his insights into the music at the keyboard.
Silent Cries
Jiri Kylián uses Claude Debussy’s dreamlike Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un faune for this stylised portrayal of a process of self-discovery and acceptance. He created the solo work in collaboration with his wife, the dancer Sabine Kupferberg, who performs in this studio recording.
La cathédrale engloutie
Jiri Kylián’s ballet is set to a composition by Claude Debussy which was inspired by a fifteenth-century Breton legend. This tells how a cathedral was built on a seashore as a symbol to the Almighty that he would reign over the people. But they led godless lives and, as a result, the cathedral disappeared below the waves. This performance was recorded in studio.
Piano Variations
Three ballets by Hans van Manen reflect his choreographic preoccupation with relationships between the sexes. Piano Variations II, to Prokofiev’s Sarcasms Op. 17, shows a couple locked in a cycle of acceptance and rejection. In Piano Variation III, to Satie’s Trois Gnossiennes, a man and a woman succumb to a growing attraction. Piano Variation IV, to Etudes by Debussy, shows a man resisting twelve women, before yielding. This studio recording includes an interview with van Manen.