Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 01/08/2008, uploaded on 01/26/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Soirée dans Grenade, from Estampes       Claude Debussy

The two pieces by Claude Debussy chosen for this program share the ambience of a habanera. La Puerta del Vino (The Wine Gate), from the second book of Preludes for Piano, describes an image Debussy had, based on a postcard he had received, of the Moorish gate by the Alhambra Palace in Granada. A habanera rhythm is consistently heard in the left hand while the right hand mimics flamenco-style singing and guitar. The Arabic scale and guitar strumming in Soirée dans Grenade (Evening in Granada) evoke aromatic images of Granada, Spain. Although at the time, Debussy had only spent a few hours in Spain, Spanish composer Manuel de Falla described Soirée as containingnot"even one measure of this music borrowed from the Spanish folklore, and yet the entire composition in its most minute details, conveys Spain admirably."      Stephanie Shih-yu Cheng

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.