Piano Street Magazine

Noriko Ogawa asks Beethoven to Leave her Alone

October 17th, 2014 in Piano News by | 1 comment

Noriko Ogawa seems to be comfortable in the same pea pod as Claude Debussy; she displays a similar maverick streak to the French composer. They both lament the “rules” in roughly the same way. Debussy didn’t like the composition rules of his teachers at the Paris Conservatory, while Ogawa keeps away from what she sees as the restrictive, emotional tradition of European Romanticism.      

In this video Nogawa makes her point by discussing the different aspects of Debussy’s Prelude No. 12, Book 2, Feux D’Artifice (Fireworks). As she explains the sonic meaning behind separate motives and sound clusters that simulate everything from a lit fuse to “La Marseillaise” sounding faintly in the distance, she does reinforce the lack of emotional spirit in Debussy’s music in his quest to depict his subjects as accurately as possible.

Deconstructed: Noriko Ogawa – Debussy’s Feux D’Artifice (Fireworks)’
Ogawa performs Debussy’s Feux D’Artifice

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Comments

  • Uriah Young says:

    Thanks for sharing this! Interesting segment that shared a unique perspective about Debussy. Noriko Ogawa does a splendid job elaborating on her views and demonstrating technique.

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