Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 10/03/2010, uploaded on 10/03/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Claude Debussy composed his two books of preludes during a remarkably brief period—the first, between December 1909 and February 1910; and the second, during roughly the same period in 1912-13. Though totaling twenty-four in number between the two books, Debussy’s preludes do not follow the precedent established by J. S. Bach’s ubiquitously known Well-Tempered Clavier (namely, a prelude in each of the major and minor keys) and imitated by several other composers, including Frédéric Chopin, Charles-Valentin Alkan, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. However, this does not mean that Debussy’s preludes are without order, and the relationships that can be found among them indicate that their published order was, to a certain extent, quite purposeful, yet also designed with a degree of inherent flexibility. Debussy, in keeping with the artistic philosophy of his day, also composed each prelude with specific scene or image in mind. Yet, to partially disguise these intents from the listener and to allow his audience to discover them of their own accord, Debussy craftily placed his titles at the end of each prelude. Performance practice of the preludes varies. Early performances, even by Debussy himself, established a precedent of grouping the prelude in threes or fours, allowing performers to pick those in which they perhaps are most comfortable. However, some performers also choose to perform each book in their entirety.

Canope, the tenth prelude of Book II, is Debussy’s musical representation of a canopic jar, a burial urn used by the Ancient Egyptians that was part of the mummification process which stored and preserved their owner’s viscera believed to be needed in the afterlife. Debussy’s music is sentimental and even reverent, as if he adopted the point of view of having known the deceased. A chant-like melody, accompanied by full-voiced chords, opens the prelude. A repetition of the melody alone then gives way to a pair of motives—one ascending, the other descending—that form the bulk of the middle section. The climax is reached, not through dynamics as the prelude barely rises above a piano, but instead by the sudden appearance of descending scalar passages and isolated tones high in the piano’s upper register. The chant melody of the opening returns, only slightly altered, but it is the previously heard sweet-sounding descending motif over a ninth chord that closes the prelude.     Joseph DuBose

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Giorgi Latsabidze Plays Debussy Preludes Book 2

DVD/CD presented by Onward Entertainment, Wayne Adams, CharismARTist Foundation. A J.G. Weaver Documentary recorded LIVE in performance, November 2009, Los Angeles, CA.This is second documentary recorded live by the above, preceded by LATSABIDZE THE RECITAL, November 2008, Los Angeles, CA