Music and Nationhood
Due to a long association with C. Leonard Coduti, a musicologist who specializes in French music, I became intrigued with his knowledge of French keyboard music "beyond Debussy and Ravel." I began exploring his many recommendations and have found myself fully entranced, fascinated, and amazed at the prolific output of so many wonderful French ...
In a letter of July 1910 to Jacques Durand, Claude Debussy announced that, as an artist, he was "accustomed to living among apparitions." Exactly what form those apparitions took is anybody's guess, but some may well have appeared in the form of arabesques, and not always friendly ones at that. Despite the fact that arabesques are so innocuous ...
Feux d'artifice by Claude Debussy Feux d'artifice by Claude Debussy, performed by Spencer Myer
Review by Ann DuHamelDebussy's Paris: Piano Portraits of the Belle Époque, by Catherine Kautsky. The first time I heard Professor Catherine Kautsky speak at a conference, I was utterly entranced: she gave a captivating, lively, and energetic session that I still remember years later. Her enthusiasm for French music was palpable, and she provi...
We apologize for the blurry video. Fortunately, the sound quality is clear, and we hope that you enjoy Mr. Myer's presentation and colorful demonstrations. Click here to download handout Did you enjoy this webinar?Please complete our brief survey to help us improve our webinar series and continue to bring you the highest quality resources...
Sound is touch at a distance. Jad Abumrad, from Radiolab "Sound is touch at a distance." I heard this quote at a recent talk given by Radio Lab creator, Jad Abumrad, and I couldn't get it out of my mind. Over and over it repeated itself. Mothers sing to babies after they put them down as a way of continuing physical contact, Jad told us. So, i...
The Debussy Debate With this issue, we celebrate the centennial of Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Pianists and piano teachers hold him in high esteem as one of the great composers, and, as proof, we still teach and perform his works (and dedicate magazine issues to him). His bold experimentation with harmony, breaks from traditional rules, and colorfu...
In 1904, soprano Mary Garden entered the Paris recording studio of Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd. with her pianist, Claude Debussy. Garden sang three excerpts from Ariettes oubliées, a set of chansons Debussy dedicated to her, as well as an excerpt from Pelléas et Mélisande, an opera for which she premiered the title role. The resulting recording...
Claude Debussy was a person of great restraint and even considered elusive by some. He was not concerned with the technical issues of a pianist, and yet was highly attentive to the quality of a pianissimo and its relationship to softer or louder levels of sound. We know his playing generally did not reach a forceful fortissimo. He cared less about ...
It has been more than one hundred years since Claude Debussy was composing masterpieces that were part of a general revolutionary movement that challenged European musical traditions. Debussy was looking for ways to distinguish himself as unique and French, while at the same time using sources from other countries. He found inspiration in varied an...
To print, use the PDFs below. Just click on the black bar at the top of each page and click on the print icon! Alternatively, you can use the down arrow and save it to your computer for sending to your favorite local office supply store for printing. New this issue! Recordings can be found below the PDF that correspond to this article. D...
Debussy Steven Osborne, piano Hyperion CDA68161 [Total Time 73:21] hyperion-records. co.uk Debussy Steven Osborne, piano Hyperion CDA68161 [Total Time 73:21] hyperion-records. co.uk Eleven years after the release of his recording of Debussy's complete set of preludes, British pianist Steven Osborne offers a captivating rendi...
Nyman: Complete Piano Music Jeroen van Veen, piano Brilliant Classics 95112 [Total Time 1:50:45] brilliantclassics.com Prolific Dutch pianist-composer Jeroen van Veen presents all of Michael Nyman's existing solo piano music. Many will recognize Nyman (b. 1944) as composer of the soundtrack for the 1993 award-winning film The Piano, and—of th...
In the Spring of 2017, Clavier Companion sponsored its ninth annual Collegiate Writing Contest, inviting college students from around the world to submit 1,500 word essays on a pedagogical topic of their choice. We extend our sincere thanks to professors Gail Berenson, Pamela Pike, and Suzanne Schons for serving as adjudicators for this year's cont...
In this department over the past thirteen years, many authors and myself have alluded to two different meanings of the term "rhythm." Prosaic rhythm (also called counting rhythm) is the mere timing of events decoded from the printed page using counting or other methods. Poetic rhythm is much broader, encompassing virtually everything...