Even before my copy had dropped through my letterbox, reviews
of this CD could be read all over the place - mostly laudatory
ones too. So I waited several weeks before listening. In fact
I am, like everyone else, very impressed. I’ll explain.
I suspect that Jean-Efflam Bavouzet had expected to record Debussy’s
complete piano music in the four volumes, already very well reviewed
(see below). The chance arrival of the piano score of ‘Khamma’ seems
to have set him on the path of also tackling the other two ballets
for a single disc. In fact Debussy always produced for the ballet
pianist a usable rehearsal version. In the case of the score
for ’Jeux’ Bavouzet remarks in his additional essay
(there is also a general one by Roger Nichols) “A note
from the artist” that
Jeux was “genuinely
unplayable by one pianist”. This was mainly due to the
composer’s habit of adding, above and below the basic staves,
extra flourishes and phrases as an aide-memoire for the later
orchestration. A few years ago Bavouzet made a four-hand version
of the ballet but for this recording had to manage the performance
alone and without any ‘jiggery-pokery’ in the recording
booth. The result was “one of the most difficult works
I have ever played”.
On opening the booklet one espies a rare photo of Debussy with
that marvellous and under-rated composer André Caplet
who died young in 1925. Debussy wrote to Caplet that in composing
this Diaghilev-commissioned ballet “I forgot the troubles
of the world so as to write music that was almost joyous with
the rhythm of gay gestures ... I am thinking of orchestral colour
that seems back-lighted”. At first I heard the work in
its orchestral guise then I heard Bavouzet. Make no mistake,
in the piano version much is lost but Bavouzet has a way of almost
reproducing orchestral colour, with his touch, pedalling and
phrasing - a truly remarkable achievement. It must be remembered
that ‘Jeux’ is actually called a ‘Poème
dansé’ and the ‘plot’ if I can call
it that, is a somewhat erotic
ménage à trois concerning
three tennis players, two females and a male who, in the search
for a tennis ball, dance both separately and in various pairs,
and as a three-some eventually resulting in a combined kiss.
This precedes the surprising arrival of a second tennis ball
just before the music evaporates. Sadly for Debussy and Nijinsky
whose ‘vulgar’ choreography Debussy failed to enjoy, ‘Le
Sacre du Printemps’ hit the world just two weeks later
and Debussy’s score was forgotten for fifty years.
Oddly enough ‘Khamma’ is also a ballet about a girl
who dances herself to death. This time the ballet is set in ancient
Egypt involving propitiation for the ‘sins’ of a
besieged city. The music which represents Debussy at his most
experimental consists of four scenes and a series of three internal
dances the whole woven together with stylistic consistency. The
composer only orchestrated the first three or four minutes. There
was much confusion and argument about the orchestration and contractual
details. Charles Koechlin orchestrated the rest after Debussy’s
death. The first concert performance of the orchestral version
- which I have not heard myself - took place in 1924. The piano
version is remarkable in the orchestral effects which can so
readily be heard. The trumpets near the beginning are, for example,
particularly striking. I would like to hear what little Debussy
did orchestrate.
It may be odd to think of Debussy as having been influenced by
Stravinsky but the fact is that the plot of the ballet ‘La
Boîte à Joujoux’ is not unlike that of ‘Petrushka’.
Cardboard characters act out a love tragedy instead of circus
dolls. In addition ‘La Boîte’ like ‘Khamma’ has
a major role for the piano although, again, Debussy never completed
it. André Caplet did that, and quite brilliantly too.
In fairness to produce a new ballet in 1913 on the eve of the
Great War and just a few months after ‘Le Sacre’ was
probably doomed. We should be grateful that Debussy was much
inspired here by the games and toys of his seven year-old daughter
ChouChou. Why not, after all the work is subtitled ‘Ballet
pour enfants’. One way in which Debussy creates this atmosphere
is by quoting children’s songs, especially in the final
tableau. These songs include ‘Pop goes the weasel’;
indeed you could have much fun playing ‘spot that tune’,
what with Mendelssohn’s Wedding March and Debussy’s
own ‘Danse Nègre’. Towards the end did I not
also spot a quote from part two of ‘Le Sacre’?
We should be delighted that Debussy found the energy and patience
to stick with the task of completing the ballet. It is great
fun to listen to either version. However, as a stand-alone piano
piece I am not so sure. Whereas ‘Khamma’ is integrated
and almost symphonic in construction ‘La Boîte’ because
of the nature of its material is a bit more fragmentary and programmatic.
In addition the characters are individualised musically. For
example the soldier can obviously be represented by a trumpet
and a fanfare has been written for him. There is an enigmatic
toy-waltz for the doll and a curious figure in seconds (
Petrushka again)
for Punchinello.
My only criticism is that Chandos should have given the first
tableau its own track instead of linking it to the Introduction.
Otherwise this is a marvellous disc and the climax in so many
ways of Bavouzet’s complete Debussy cycle.
Gary Higginson
Reviews of previous volumes in this series
Volume 1 CHAN10421
Volume
2 CHAN10443
Volume
3 CHAN10467
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
(piano) 
