Pedalling in Feux D'artifice

[pianoville]

In the beginning of the Debussy prelude Feux D'artifice how do you pedal? Even though playing with a lot of pedal might be a bit easier, playing without pedal gives it a much more sparkling sound, and therefore it sounds more impressionistic. What do you think?

[visitor]

Play w flutter pedaling  or even a bit less w interspersed flutter and see how it sounds to you then , insuspect you May find that's the ticket to the sound You are looking for

[fftransform]

The opening is pedaled in many different ways; the performance standards are pretty open for this piece in general.  But it's not as relevant as some other decisions.  Some like to lift the pedal for the octaves in the upper registers, and some don't.  Some pianists accent the F and/or Bb and/or Gb, while some don't.  Will it be consistent through the whole opening, or will you transition from one to another as it progresses?

Maybe you have an example(s) that you would like to emulate in some manner; that would be helpful.  Though honestly, just experimenting will be faster than trying to theorize your way to an answer.


Here are some pretty staccato ones; how does it compare to what you want?

[pianoville]

Play w flutter pedaling  or even a bit less w interspersed flutter and see how it sounds to you then , insuspect you May find that's the ticket to the sound You are looking for

The opening is pedaled in many different ways; the performance standards are pretty open for this piece in general.  But it's not as relevant as some other decisions.  Some like to lift the pedal for the octaves in the upper registers, and some don't.  Some pianists accent the F and/or Bb and/or Gb, while some don't.  Will it be consistent through the whole opening, or will you transition from one to another as it progresses?

Maybe you have an example(s) that you would like to emulate in some manner; that would be helpful.  Though honestly, just experimenting will be faster than trying to theorize your way to an answer.


Here are some pretty staccato ones; how does it compare to what you want?

Thank you very much for your suggestions, I have figured it out by myself now. The Ginzburg recording was in my opinion really good, and I really liked how he didn't use the pedal to cover up. However, while I do like it, I don't want to play it that way, and it needs to be prepared for competition in May, so I don't want to spend too much time on just getting the opening to sound as staccato as possible. This is pretty close to what I want. (with the exception of how he articulates the octaves)