DEBUSSY/COLIN MATTHEWS: 24 Preludes for Piano arr. for Orchestra by Matthews; Postlude: Monsieur Croche [TrackList below] – Hallé Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder – Hallé CD HLD 7527 (2 CDs) 42:25 & 54:10 [Distr. by Allegro] *****:
These highly unusual arrangements were recorded in 2006 (1st disc) and 2007 (2nd disc) and released on separate CDs by Hallé; now they have been assembled into this double-CD package. The Hallé Orchestra is one of Britain’s best-regarded ensembles and the country’s longest-established professional symphony orchestra. Composer Colin Matthews was formerly Associate Composer with the London Symphony, and now is in that position with the Hallé. He wrote these transcriptions for orchestra over a period of five years on a commission from conductor Elder.
These are not note-for-note transcriptions, but efforts to discover the real intent behind each Prelude and to translate that into orchestral music. In fact Matthews hopes that it would be just as difficult to translate his transcriptions back into the piano originals. Though Debussy revolutionized modern piano music in the original pieces, their tone-painting has been entirely re-thought by Matthews to come up with new Debussy-style orchestral works. For example, the beginning of “What the West Wind Saw” is a series of arpeggios on the piano representing the wind and the sea. Matthews creates entirely new material to replace the piano arpeggios, and later at the climax of the piece he inserts a series of horn calls which are not in the piano original.
Some of the Preludes are transposed to work better in a different key, such as “La Puerto del Vino,” which seems to do a more forceful job of communicating that Debussy described as contrasts between violence and impassioned sweetness. This and the preceding “Sounds and Scents Dance in the Evening Air” sound almost like movements of his Images for Orchestra in their addition of orchestral garb to the often daring harmonies of Debussy’s piano Preludes.
Most of the Preludes in the second set of 12 (on Disc 2) are not as radical transcriptions as those heard on Disc 1 but each presents its Prelude in a new and exciting form. Those with a Spanish flavor benefit from the addition of guitar or castanets. While the keyboard pyrotechnics of the piano Prelude “Fireworks” proves difficult to transcribe to the orchestra, the use of the celesta adds a brilliant touch to the explosions of orchestral sound. My persona favorite of all the transcriptions is I think the final one, Matthews’ treatment of Debussy’s “The Sunken Cathedral.” It has been heard in other orchestral versions as well as Tomita’s spectacular electronic version. But with the orchestra simulating the pipe organ and bell sounds, I find this transcription a beautiful evocation of the mysterious cathedral emerging from the mists and then sinking back into them again. Matthews wrote a little postlude somewhat in a Debussian style to conclude his 24 Prelude transcriptions, and for its title he used the alias Debussy used when he first began doing music criticism.
TrackList =
Disc 1:
Brouillards (Book II, No.1)
Ce qu’a vu le vent d’Ouest (Book I, No.7)
Minstrels (Book 1, No.12)
Canope (Book II, No.10)
Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir (Book I, No.4)
La Puerta del Vino (Book II, No.3)
Général Lavine – excentric (Book II, No.6)
Feuilles mortes (Book II, No.2)
Les tierces alternées (Book II, No.11)
La danse de Puck (Book I, No.11)
Le vent dans la plaine (Book I, No.3)
La fille aux cheveux de lin (Book I, No.8)
Disc 2:
Book I, No.1 ‘Danseuses De Delphes’
Book I, No.9 ‘La Sérénade Interrompue’
Book I, No.6 ‘Des Pas Sur La Neige’
Book II, No.4 ‘Les Fées Sont D’exquises Danseuses’
Book I, No.2 ‘Voiles’
Book II, No.9 ‘Hommage À S. Pickwick, Esq., P.P.M.P.C.
Book II, No.7 ‘La Terrasse Des Audiences Du Clair De Lune’
Book II, No.5 ‘Bruyères’
Book II, No.8 ‘Ondine’
Book I, No.5 ‘Les Collines D’Anacapri’
Book II, No.12 ‘Feux D’artifice’
Book I, No. 10 ‘La Cathédrale Engloutie’
MATTHEWS: Prelude: Monsieur Croche
— John Sunier
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