Debussy's Children Corner Suite

[invictus]

Can somebody provide some profesional opinion about the Deussy's Children Corner Suite, like which pieces should i play first and so on

[invictus]

Anybody?

[randmc]

Doctor Gradus Ad Parnassum
Golliwogs Cakewalk

[Floristan]

"Serenade of the Doll" was a favorite Horowitz encore.

"The Snow is Dancing" is the hardest of the group, IMO.

"Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum" is a great piece, but not easy.  It presents many of the same challenges as a Bach invention.

"Golliwog's Cakewalk" is everyone's perennial favorite, so I'd go with it.

[nanabush]

Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum requires tremendous finger dexterity in the right hand, and must always be fluent; this piece I think should only use the pedal in the areas where the left hand crosses over the right, which isn't very often.

Snow is dancing IMO is easier than Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, but is also difficult.

I don't like Jimbo's Lullaby or the Little Shepherd but w/e you can check those out...

Serenade for the Doll and Golliwog's Cakewalk are also nice pieces, but my favs are Doctor Gradus and the Snow is Dancing.

[bernhard]

Have a look here:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5348.msg50994.html#msg50994
(discussion on Children’s corner)

Personally I would start with Dr. Gradus (not only it is my favourite, as it is the most difficult – once you master that the others come easily).

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[mlsmithz]

I don't know that there is a wide gulf between the difficulty levels of the easier pieces in the set and the more challenging ones (although the set is not of uniform difficulty), so you can probably tackle them in the order in which they appear in the set - starting with 'Doctor Gradus' and concluding with 'Golliwogg's Cake-Walk'.

Taking the pieces individually, I'm never sure if I find 'Doctor Gradus' or 'The Snow is Dancing' the most taxing of the six technically and/or musically - the first must be played smoothly and evenly, and in the second the pedal must be used carefully to avoid, to borrow a phrase from the Alfred edition, making the snow sound like rain.  But there's no denying that 'Doctor Gradus' is one of the most difficult, and if you can master it, the rest of the suite should follow easily, so it's a good one to tackle first, as Bernhard says.  The usual caveats about slow Debussy apply to 'Jimbo's Lullaby' (my favourite of the set as a performer and as a listener) and 'The Little Shepherd' - slightly abstract pieces which can sound beautiful if played well and insipid if played poorly.  The main challenges there are musical (especially in the more abstract 'Little Shepherd').  'Serenade for the Doll' requires a light touch, especially for the quick rolled chords.  And in 'Golliwogg's Cake-Walk', I don't think there is a consensus as to how OTT the Wagner quote and the 'response' to it should be - though you probably shouldn't go completely overboard.  Technically it's not too challenging.

At any rate, they're all fun pieces to play and hear, and most effective when played as a set rather than separately.  Best of luck!

[invictus]

Thanks for your very informative replies, I have determined the order of which i learn the pieces

Thanks