Classical Music | Piano Music

Claude Debussy

Les Tierces Alternées, from Préludes Book II  Play

Giorgi Latso Piano

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.

An interesting and curious piece is Les tierces alternées, the penultimate prelude of Debussy’s second book and a forerunner of the Études that would follow some two years later. It is entirely built of alternating thirds between the two hands. Indeed, in the strictest sense of the term, it is nearly a purely harmonic piece as the only dissonances that arise throughout are the results of these consonant thirds beginning to overlap in a brief variation that appears near prelude’s conclusion. Taken at a quick tempo, much of the music is static with a moto perpetuo rhythm and only the snippets of a melody emerging at times among the outer tones of the alternating thirds. Thus, contrast relies primarily on varying degrees of dynamics and the ability of the performer to accentuate them. A brief interlude stops the frantic motion of the prelude, as the rhythm of the third slows to quarter notes and even half notes before adopting a more graceful demeanor in a variation of dotted rhythms resulting in the dissonances mentioned earlier. Following a brief pause, the sprightly music recommences and carries on to the prelude’s end, where two crisp, punctuated thirds proceed the final pause on a major third on C.       Joseph DuBose

Giorgi Latsabidze Plays Debussy Preludes Book 2

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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