Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
The Preludes (1910-1912, arrs, 2001-06) arranged for orchestra by Colin MATTHEWS (b. 1946)
CD 1 [42:25]
Brouillards (2,1) [4:03]
Ce qu’a vu le vent d’Ouest (1,7) [3:10]
Minstrels (1,12) [2:39]
Canope (2,10) [2:57]
Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir (1,4) [3:53]
La Puerta del Vino (2,3) [3:38]
Général Lavine – excentric (2,6) [3:15]
Feuilles mortes (2,2) [3:36]
Les tierces alternées (2,11) [3:12]
La danse de Puck (1,11) [3:03]
Le vent dans la plaine (1,3) [2:55]
La fille aux cheveux de lin (1,8)*[5:00]
CD 2 [54:10]
Danseuses de Delphes (Book I, No.1) [2:58]
La Sérénade interrompue (1,9) [2:43]
Des pas sur la neige (1,6) [4:22]
Les Fées sont d'exquises danseuses (2,4) [3:45]
Voiles (1,2) [4:18]
Hommage à S Pickwick Esq, PPMPC (2,9) [2:41]
Le terrasse des audiences du clair de la lune (2,7) [4:28]
Bruyères (2,5) [3:20]
Ondine (2,8) [3:08]
Les collines d’Anacapri (1,5) [3:40]
Feux d'artifice (2,12) [5:00]
La cathédrale engloutie (1,10) [8:28]
Colin MATTHEWS
Postlude: Monsieur Croche [3:46]
Hallé Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder
rec. 14–16 July 2006; *2 August 2006, BBC Studio 7, New Broadcasting House (CD 1); 4 May 2008 (Des pas sur la neige); 20-21 June 2007, The Bridgewater Hall (CD 2), Manchester. DDD
Previously issued on Hallé CD HLL 7513 and 7518
HALLÉ CD HLL 7527 [42:25 + 54:10]
This is a very sensible and straight re-coupling of previously released recordings. I am an absolute sucker for a good orchestral arrangement so I had been very tempted by their earlier incarnations but wasn’t sure my shelves could cope with another La Mer or Jeux no matter how fine. Simply shorn of those original couplings and presented with a significant price advantage in a slim-line dual CD case this is now irresistible. I cannot speak too highly of Colin Matthews’ arrangements. But they really are so much more than arrangements even though they are described as such on the CDs themselves. Debussy is a composer who has appealed to arrangers pretty much since the moment he wrote the music originally. Think of the skilful work by André Caplet, as a single instance, on Debussy’s Martyre de Saint-Sébastien, La Boîte à joujoux. and Clair de lune. But Caplet’s remit seems to have been to mimic Debussy. Matthews’ brilliance, and this is why these should be treated as a major cycle of orchestral works, is that he has absorbed the essence of Debussy utterly yet refashioned it into something that is both modern and personal. Time and time again I was struck by how contemporary – in the best sense – much of this music sounds. The quietly revolutionary side of Debussy is laid bare for all to hear. No, Matthews has not stuck slavishly to every little harmonic implication in the original, and there are times where the full orchestra cannot copy every pianistic effect but in essence this is Debussy although perceived from a 21st Century perspective.
The Hallé commissioned this project in 2001 and the last to be recorded – Des pas sur la neige [CD2 track 3 – a remarkable piece in the original and quite brilliantly realised here] – was put down in May 2008. Even allowing for no doubt numerous diversions and other projects this is an extended time-frame and reflects the real care taken. Just looking at the piano originals makes it clear what a major undertaking this was. Gerald Larner has contributed an excellent liner note which throws light on some of Matthews’ musical adjustments and choices. So thoroughly pianistic are these works both technically and musically that even contemplating an orchestral version would seem absurd. Great credit for the success must go to mark Elder and his excellent Hallé players too. Rhythmic freedom and natural rubato are key to the Debussy style and the orchestra demonstrate this superbly. I do not intend to comment individually on all twenty four preludes. Personally I enjoyed the most those that develop and extend the elusive atmosphere of the originals. These play to the strength of the full orchestra and give the music a palette that a piano alone cannot emulate. The very opening of disc 1 Brouillards is very very fine indeed; superbly layered sounds from the orchestra brilliantly captured in demonstration sound by producer Andrew Keener and engineer Simon Eadon. The balancing and voicing of the brass throughout is perfection – in part because their parts have been so well conceived but also because the actual playing is a model of subtle control and skill. Matthews’ use of percussion and harp to create a harmonic halo around the chords is brilliant. The preludes which emphasise characterisation over atmosphere have never interested me as much but even they tickle the ear when illuminated with as much orchestral colour as here. Of course, part of Matthews’ skill is to lead the ear to key elements of the harmony by his choice of instruments. I like the way he uses the contra-bassoon in Minstrels [track 3] and the saxophone in Général Lavine – excentric [CD1 track 7] – there’s a Françaix-esque wit to it that is quite charming. The Hallé strings are on top sensuous form as well – has the opening to Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir ever beguiled as it does here?
As an example of orchestral virtuosity by both composer – I can’t call him the arranger any more – and players this is the finest disc I have heard so far this year and one that will give continuing pleasure over many repeated listenings. My slightest tiniest little question mark is why for this re-release the original order of Debussy’s music was not restored. Because the original discs were recorded about a year apart each disc shared six preludes from the two books. Within this re-ordering there is a good mix of style and mood but I would liked to have had the current order explained. Matthews is far too fastidious for there not to be an underlying structure to the sequence as presented. Most obviously it allows the second disc to end with the largest and most imposing prelude – La cathédrale engloutie. The first disc also ends with one of the most famous from the set; La fille aux cheveux de lin. Matthews scores this for just harp and strings and by indicating a tempo far slower than originally intended gives it a weight and a scale far removed from the original. Is there by any chance a deliberate homage to the Mahler Symphony No.5 Adagio – scored for the same forces? I particularly like the way the famous opening of this piece is allowed to steal in Nimrod-like from the end of the previous prelude.
The second disc is produced by Matthews himself and he does as fine a job as Andrew Keener the previous year. For sheer beauty of orchestral sound try the magical sounds of Des pas sure la neige [CD2 track 3] – another movement that shows how revolutionary Debussy was in his handling of harmony and anti-romantic musical stasis. At the risk of repeating myself I cannot stress how well Mark Elder and his players sustain these fluid yet hanging lines – all too often this music can stagnate; there needs to be motion in the stillness if this does sound too oxymoronic. This might sound like an odd thing to say, and contradictory to boot – but were this an original piano version it would be up there with the best and most revelatory. As mentioned previously the set of 24 original preludes are completed by La cathédrale engloutie [CD2 track 12]. This makes for interesting comparison with Stokowski’s thrillingly cinematic version – the impression one gains from the two versions is quite different – Stokowski; epic grandiose and undeniably visceral in its excitement – particularly when heard in the Eric Kunzel/Cincinatti Pops version on Telarc. In contrast Matthews’ vision is more solemn, more atmospheric and ultimately truer to the original conception. Larner perceptively puts his finger on the difference – in Matthews’ vision the cathedral remains a hazy mirage on the edge of perception, for Stokowski it becomes an edifice of granitic reality. Again little careful touches in the orchestration pay dividends; Matthews uses real bells not tubular bells, or the opening rising chords doubled on harp and vibraphone over high sustained strings which is instantly evocative of some watery mystery. I don’t know if the Hallé always plays with the violins split left and right but the effect here works wonderfully conjuring up some vast horizon. There’s a moment at 2:53 where the high string melody is supported by a glockenspiel which suddenly sounded just like part of Frank Bridge’s Enter Spring. The similarity had never occurred to me before. Listen to the glorious deep notes from the tuba and contra-bassoon at 3:07 over which the chant-like melody is played with majestic power – the Hallé brass in imperious form one last time. The discs are completed by Matthews’ own prelude ‘in the style of….’ named Postlude: Monsieur Croche. This was the nom-de-plume Debussy used when working as a critic. A gem of a little piece in its own right this goes way beyond simple pastiche and would be a worthy concert curtain-raiser in its own right.
A delight to listen to this set which transcends any criticism or comment except that of gratitude and admiration – a triumph for all concerned and a certain shoe-in for one of my discs of the year.
Nick Barnard
A delight … transcends any criticism or comment except that of gratitude and admiration
And a further review… by Rob Barnett
The appearance of this set caught me by surprise. The Hallé and Elder have
issued all these Colin Matthews arrangements before across two CDs. Each volume
was fleshed out with other Debussy works – La Mer on Vol. 1 and Jeux
on Vol. 2 - bringing us closer to expected playing times. After John Quinn’s
and Brian
Briggs’ reviews I was not going to forget these discs. I assumed that
they would settle into an honourable place in the catalogue and that would
be that. Nothing of the sort! Repackaged and shorn of those other works the
Hallé label now give us the complete Préludes in the sequence intended by
the arranger or I should say ‘re-imaginer’; these are not always ‘straight’
arrangements. Each benefits from diaphanous scoring by Colin Matthews produced
over a five year period.
Brouillards sounds like shimmering fog-bound film music. The trumpets
are too assertive to be completely convincing in this context; a minor criticism.
Ce qu'a vu has that authentic Debussy sound, breathing rich air and
then momentarily thin and attenuated, slow and then hurried. It has been very
closely recorded with plenty of bite to go with the satin veils. Canope
is warmly bathed. Les sons et les parfums is sighingly sensuous
and somnolent. La Puerta with its Iberian atmosphere was inspired by
a postcard sent to Debussy by de Falla. Minstrels and General Lavine
tie in with popular culture in the form of blacked-up street entertainers
on the streets of Eastbourne where Debussy wrote La Mer and in the
latter a dreamy music-hall entertainer – the American clown, Edward Lavine
with some especially bitter plain chocolate trumpets. Feuille mortes is
fittingly spare and dry. Tierce alternées (alternating thirds) is set
delightfully a-flutter. La danse de Puck features Oberon who is suggested
by a resinous horn. It is a miniature tone poem of impressionistic gauze akin
to William Baines’ Thoughtdrift and Isle of the Fey – when will
these impressionistic miniatures be recorded? Le vent is playful yet
feels dangerous. La fille aux cheveux de lin and its predecessor are
the most radical of re-imaginings of the originals. The result is fey and
barely breathed. This music is played so quietly that the violin’s final super-thinned
line is at the expense of an uninterrupted thread of sound.
We turn now to the second disc. Danseuses de Delphes is part ‘Ode on
a Grecian Urn’ and part Palm Court effete. La sérénade interrompue picks
up again on the Iberian atmospherics. Des pas sur la neige is redolent
of the desolation of the childhood snow-scenes depicted by Bernard Herrmann
in Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons. Les fées sont
d'exquises danseuses again has a yearning and melting tender Hispanic
impressionism about it. Voiles is a subtle study in 'floating whole
tones'. Hommage à S Pickwick Esq is complete with a portentously ponderous
part veiled reference to the British National Anthem but is also sensitive
to Pickwick's amorous proclivities. La Terrasse plays with a fragile
interaction of moonlit ideas and playful themes. Bruyères is a tender
reflection with a feint hint of the Celtic. You also hear the most ardently
romantic and frankly unfolded of statements. There’s more delicate fairy stuff
in Ondine which was inspired by an Arthur Rackham illustration. Les
Collines is half impressionistic suggestion and half exultant celebration
- a sort of Italian counterpart to Chabrier's España. Feux d'artifice
is a dazzling display-piece with some superb colouration and a hint of
Respighi's horns. The last prelude is La Cathèdrale Engloutie with
its impressionistic image of the sunken Celtic-Breton city of d'Ys. The bell
is very fully rendered rather than hazily suggested. I am not quite sure this
is a telling as it could be. At 8.28 it is the longest piece here. Plangency
and undersea shadows are well put across and the piece ends in a shimmer of
violins and the decay of a bell chord.
Finally comes Postlude - Monsieur Croche the name Debussy took for
himself when writing music criticism. It could easily be an additional prelude
with its atmospherically delicate impressionistic fragility and finally a
brazen Ravel-like conflagration.
All in all this makes for a wonderful addition to the Debussy oeuvre enhanced
with fine notes from Gerald Larner.
If you go to the Hallé site you will be able to read Colin Matthews’ own views
on this project.
In 2000 there was a Finzi sequence of songs orchestrated by latter day composers
(Chandos). In large part it failed to catch the Finzi orchestral voice - probably
not intended to. In the case of Finzi the job still awaits a sensitive and
dedicated mind … and how those songs cry out for orchestral backdrop! In the
present case Matthews, for me, catches the sound of Debussy – the sound seemingly
left to be discovered in the interstices of the piano score.
Rob Barnett
Matthews catches the sound of Debussy
a note from Colin Matthews
As the recipient of the most extraordinarily generous reviews by Nick Barnard and Rob Barnett I'd like to take the opportunity to thank them publicly, and to acknowledge the exceptional work that Music Web International does in reviewing music, both recorded and live, in such depth. At a time when music coverage is so dominated by the attention given to the pop world it's very heartening to see such enterprise and seriousness of purpose.
I'd also like, if I may, to say something about Nick Barnard's comment, 'My slightest tiniest little question mark is why for this re-release the original order of Debussy's music was not restored'. Even expressed so diffidently, this does demand an answer, which perhaps should have been included in the liner notes. There are several reasons, the first being the practical one that, when the first 'book' was recorded in July 2006 (Hallé HLL 7513), a handful of preludes was still incomplete - the performance of the last group, including La Cathédrale, didn't take place until May 2007.
Consequently it would have been impossible to have recorded Debussy's Book 1 in order, and as all the preludes had been first performed by the Hallé in discrete groups, usually of three or four at a time with no relation to Debussy's ordering, the obvious solution was to create an artificial 'Book 1', to be followed by a similarly contrived Book 2. When it was decided earlier this year to release them all together, naturally I gave some thought as to whether or not Debussy's order should be restored. But I felt that this difference of order established the orchestral version as a separate work from the original; and in particular that the preludes I had chosen to end each of 'my' books both had the necessary weight to conclude each section. Debussy's choices are characteristically offbeat.
The ordering was, of course very carefully chosen, in terms of key, tempo and mood. But there was another factor that made me very reluctant to disturb the existing ordering - in Book 1 I had, as Nick Barnard notes, joined Le vent dans la plaine to La fille aux cheveux de lin; and in Book 2 I had similarly linked Des pas sur la neige and Les fées sont d'exquises danseuses (both pairs had been performed this way in their original groups). I didn't want to disturb these pairings. Of course anyone is free to restore Debussy's order to the CDs if they wish; and I certainly have no proprietorial concerns should anyone wish to perform them in that order, or an alternative order of their own choice.
One point even tinier than Nick's : there isn't a vibraphone at the beginning of La Cathédrale, it's a celesta. I confined myself to instruments that Debussy used or could have used, and much as I would have liked to use a vibraphone in several places, I decided it was off limits. My only illicit instruments are alto flute (Ravel's property rather than Debussy's!), optional contrabass clarinet, and sizzle cymbal.
Colin Matthews