Debussy- Etudes book 2 (complete)

[fnork]

As a part of a masterclass I just took part in, I performed the 2nd book of Etudes by Debussy over two concerts. My first time trying out the entire thing, and three of them I hadn't performed in public before, so I'm posting this no matter of various missed notes and whatnot. More concerts coming up with these in the next months, constructive criticism is certainly welcome!


Nr 7-8:

 

Nr 9-12:

 

 

[josh93248]

I just looked at the 1st video I'm afraid. I'm not too familiar with these works but they sounded decent... Perhaps the first one was a little rushed or alternatively not quite... I don't know, decisive and visionary enough, it didn't quite sound quite... established in what you wanted to do with the piece. But really I'm talking out of my butt, you seemed to do a good job and maybe my main issue was with the composition actually... The second one is similar, seemingly well executed but needs a stronger idea of the whole perhaps... Again, you can ignore me really, I don't know what I'm talking about!

[ronde_des_sylphes]

I don't have a detailed familiarity with these etudes but will attempt a certain level of criticism. I felt a tendency, certainly in no.7 and to a lesser extent elsewhere, for your sound to be slightly strident where it should probably be limpid. Could of course be a byproduct of the recording process. Despite that, it's of course very good playing overall.

[fnork]

Thanks for the comments. It was my first try-out on stage with nr 7, 8 and 11 - the others I have played quite a few times on stage in the past. Yes, I might end up playing more 'strident' when so many new pieces are brought on the stage. At the same time, with nr 7 I feel rather strongly that it keeps reaching higher and higher as it develops, and that some of those chromatics shouldn't necessarily sound 'limpid' and 'nice' at all. Either way, it's a very tricky piece and I'm not entirely happy with how it went this time. More try-outs to come..

[ronde_des_sylphes]

.. with nr 7 I feel rather strongly that it keeps reaching higher and higher as it develops, and that some of those chromatics shouldn't necessarily sound 'limpid' and 'nice' at all.

I suspect that's a very reasonable way to feel about it. For clarity's sake, I didn't intend my "limpid" to imply something "nice" or indeed particularly harmonious/euphonious about the sound, it's more a matter of something crystalline about it. I've probably listened to too much Gieseking and Thibaudet in Debussy.. I'm not sure I've expressed myself terribly well.

[gvans]

Beautiful work, Martin, you never fail to disappoint.

A quibble: the melody/pedal tones overall could be, at times, a bit stronger against the flowing arpeggios. This is a problem in Debussy, as one works so hard to learn his beautiful and strangely harmonic murmurs, yet they need to be relegated to the background, into one of his pp or ppp whispers...never easy to do with so many wonderful notes.

Some observers report that when Debussy himself played, he was a master at gradients from p to pp to ppp to pppp. And he used the pedal a lot, not caring if the notes blurred and disappeared into a wash of sound. Paul Roberts has written some excellent books on Debussy and his piano music, works you might enjoy (I did).

All that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the recordings and would love to hear more. You are a wonderful pianist!

[fnork]

How funny you mentioned mr Roberts and his book, because I've been reading his various books on Debussy (one biography and one focusing on the piano music), had a lesson with him in London a few months ago and am just heading to his course in France next week Wonderful person, and a fountain of knowledge, particularly in this repertoire.

Thanks for the comments, I'm totally following the thoughts - there's a good deal of work left to be done as far as the 'layers' are concerned. Indeed, there are lots of notes to play, but some notes are more important than others!

[gvans]

That is amazing! How wonderful to attend a course with Monsieur Roberts. He wrote a great book on Ravel as well, I gather you've read that, too.

Pedaling is difficult with Debussy, too. Do you use the middle pedal at all? Sometimes it's helpful, but not second nature for me to use. 

Years ago I studied with a Debussy scholar at U. of Wisconsin. He claimed that when the composer drew a standard phrasing line over a passage, the damper pedal should be held throughout that phrase... I'm curious what Robert's and your thoughts might be about that. Since Debussy did include pedal markings in his Durand & Fils manuscripts, I've always been a bit skeptical. Still, his works require an entirely different approach (more!) to pedaling than the classics or the romantics.

[fnork]

Thanks for the comment - haven't yet read the book on Ravel that he published. As for the damper pedal issue, I'd say that it's a general misunderstanding that everything Debussy wrote must be drowned in pedal. Actually, I've heard Paul Roberts saying similar things. Not that the pedal shouldn't be there, but tehre are so many gradations of it, and it shouldn't be there by default. It's useful working without pedal sometimes, for clarity, also in Debussy. As for the middle pedal - I hardly ever use it in Debussy nor Ravel, but there are a few exceptions. I tend to put it down to sustain a low bass note in the etude for fourths. There's the possibility of using it for the low opening note of 'pour les agrements' as well, but I'm not sure I would do that. The problem is that I'd like to use the other two pedals too, and holding three pedals with two feet isn't easy...