La fille aux cheveux de lin-Debussy

[fbt]

hello everyone
     all coments welcome,pro and con,thank you for listening

[pianoplayjl]

Careful with your timing in some areas, where I think some notes came in too early. Also some notes were played too loudly, I think.

[kellyc]

Very nice.  A wonderful effort in a piece that can be deceptively  frustrating to get just right.  Ill only mention one thing I thought might need a little adjustment.  There are moments when the left hand must carry the load and play softly at the same time. That is something so many of us are not used to doing. When the left hand has got the melody , especially in Debussy a seemingly easy passage can upset the whole mood you are creating.  Listen to your left hand when it has the lead and make sure it blends in well with the mood the right hand has created.

Again, very nice  -

Kelly

[fbt]

thank you for your  musical ideas of my playing I will try to use them in my playing. getting the right balance and tonal effects in Debussy is very hard.

[rachfan]

Hi fbt,

I enjoyed hearing your rendition of "Girl with the Flaxen Hair".  I think you've brought the piece to a level of very good musicality.  Here are some additional thoughts.  Where this is an impressionistic piece, imagery is everything.  So imagine walking down a quaint, narrow way in Paris that approaches a bridge. At the beginning of the bridge stands a beautiful girl with golden hair.  The breeze gently blows through it, and occasionally she gently moves it away from her eyes and forehead as she takes in the beautiful scenery of the river, the cloudless sky, sail boats passing by, and people coming and going but unhurriedly.  But as she surveys this beautiful place, you're transfixed, mesmerized by her gentle beauty. To capture this, Debussy writes in pentatonism to bring about the calm, lyrical mood of it all.  The music should really sound like a daydream.

I cannot emphasize mental imagery enough in artistic piano playing.  It is the source of inner emotion which then translates into musical intent, which is then released into the execution.  The process is what enables one to play through the heart and soul rather than the fingers.  It's the sine qua non of performance.  

Before playing the first note in the RH in this piece, use an anticipatory pedal there, that is already have the damper pedal depressed before you even play the note.  That will make it so very much more atmospheric.  Secondly, to get the right gradation of p, don't just play it--think about it and hear it in your "mind's ear" before actually taking the note.  You'll find that it will make a huge difference in effectively combining dynamics with articulation.

Regarding dynamics, at times I sense that they are too energetic, too loud.  Bear in mind that the dynamic range here is pp to mp, and the mp occurs only once!  So always think tranquil, peaceful, and gentle to weave the daydream quality of the music.

I like most of your pedaling.  Down at measure 6, take the second beat in its own short pedal, then the third beat in its own distinct pedal extended into the next measure. Right now the second beat pedal is bleeding just a bit into the third beat.  Aim for clarity there between the two pedals.

At measure 15 you have the crescendo there--but it's not to get any louder than p!  Debussy further qualifies that crescendo by marking it "very little".  A good way is to start it at pp and after reaching p, let the diminuendo recede again to pp.  This limited dynamic range always calls for very tight maneuvering to stay in bounds.  The girl with the flaxen hair is visual lyricism.  She IS the music.

At the top of page 2 (measure 20), I like to play that whole line with abandon--more freely as one sweeping line.

At the second line, measure 24 at the au Mouv.: It needs to be played without heaviness and the first couple of measures there are marked pp to increase the pianistic challenge.  A good way to execute that is to lean back from the piano to a point where your relaxed arms feel like they're floating.  At that point depress the soft pedal as well and play.  It'll help you to achieve the pp in those chords.

At the third line down at 30, be sure that you hang onto the last E flat in the RH to absolute full value, because it sets up a voice leading to low E flat in the LH entering in the next measure.

At the marking Murmure... it's a very long retinuto or holding back, and the perdenosi (or morendo)--the dying away intensifies the retinuto.  You have to think about "spending" those three measures.  And at the same time, of course, you're applying portato touch to the double notes in the RH of the last line leading into the coda.  I believe you do this quite well.  

I didn't mention voicing anywhere.  The reason is that Debussy disliked the idea of pianists initiating voicing unless he specifically calls for it in the score.  The reason is that he wanted most of his chords to be rich in texture and colors.  When he does want voicing in this piece, his subtle signals are the tenuto marks, where you must impart a slight accent to make them stand out a bit,  and hold them down to full note value.  There's an excellent example of this of the second page, measure 27.  There in the second and third beats he wants the tops of the notes in the RH to sound and the bottom notes in the LH.  He's giving a green light to voice there as in some other places.

I hope some of this is helpful.

David

[scottmcc]

David, your comments are exceptionally insightful and I hope to one day have a recording of my own worthy of such a critique.  I've toyed with this piece in the past but never taken the time to really learn it.  Now you are making me want to pick it up again.

[rachfan]

Hi Scott,

I'm glad that you're thinking of learning a piece and giving us a recording here.  I'd be glad to comment on it should you post it.  Usually though, I'm more helpful if I've played a piece myself rather than just following along with a score.  Good luck on that!

David 

[scottmcc]

Well don't hold your breath waiting on me, it will be a long while before I get anything up to an acceptable standard to post here.  But thanks nonetheless.

[fbt]

thank you david for the time and effort you spent on my playing. It was like a master class on line. It was a thoughtful artistically valid criticism of my playing,and i appreciate it. my fingers don't always do what my aesthetic instinct tells me.

[rachfan]

Hi fbt,

my fingers don't always do what my aesthetic instinct tells me

But you're well on the way to achieving that.

I'm glad that you found my suggestions useful. 

David