Lugansky - Debussy, Estampes -Pagodes, La soirée dans Grenade, Jardins sous la pluie

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Estampes (“Prints”), L. 108/100 (1903)
Nikolai Lugansky, 2020
From St. Petersburg Philharmonia

1. Pagodes. Modérément animé [0:00]
2. La soirée dans Grenade. Mouvement de Habañera [4:48]
3. Jardins sous la pluie. Net et vif [9:21]
“As something of a manifesto of his new piano writing and an anticipation of the Préludes to come, with its poetic titles, Debussy's triptych was premiered one year after its composition, in 1904, in Paris Salle Erard by his friend Ricardo Vines.

‘Pagodes’ (Pagodas), the first piece, attests the impact on the musician of the discovery of the Javanese gamelans during the Universal Exhibition of 1889. A few years later he wrote to his friend Pierre Loüys that this eastern music conceals all the shades of shadow, some of which do not even have a name, and that he would try to transcribe.

No small feat of evocation for a man who had only set foot in Spain for a few hours, ‘La soirée dans Grenade’ (Evening in Granada) even won the admiration of Manuel de Falla, who lived at the foothills of the Alhambra. On the obstinate and dark rhythm of a habanera - a method borrowed from Ravel - Debussy grafted melodies inspired by Arabic modes and flamenco guitars, a veritable treatise on “orchestration on piano” before its time [En blanc et noir (1915)].

Finally back to France for these ‘Jardins sous la pluie’ (Gardens in the Rain) where, during a stay in Orbec of Calvados, Debussy transcribed the raindrops or the song of birds, mixing in two popular melodies - ‘nous n’irons plus au bois’ and 'do, do l’enfant do’ - to compose this melancholy painting.”

- From FranceMusique (translated)

Видео Lugansky - Debussy, Estampes -Pagodes, La soirée dans Grenade, Jardins sous la pluie канала Enchanted Wanderer