Preludes & Fugues

Preludes & Fugues
DEBUSSY ALWAYS ON MY MIND...
When I was a little boy my parents purchased a child's record player. By today's standards it was "PRE-WHEEL" in sound quality but the human ear has the ability to FILL IN THE BLANKS at times. So, to a 6 year old boy that loved music, the sounds were celestial offerings, pure magic!

Two pieces that simply stunned me were: REVERIE and CLAIR DE LUNE by Debussy. From a 6 year old to a now almost 60 year old I still thrill and love the sensuous melodies, harmony and musical architecture of these two piano solos.

I have a well worn Durand & Co. edition of the PRELUDES I purchased in 1962! I've scribbled my name on the front page and from the penmanship I am a different man now than I was at 15! The pages are fragile and brown like toast as I tenderly turn the pages and see wild circles around passages, notes with check marks above them, small "mental notes" scribbled over measures that were reminders of HOW to PLAY this phrase...fingerings and dynamic markings.

Debussy did not give formal titles to each Prelude He wrote the "IDEA or IMPRESSION" in parenthesis at the end of the piece. (..."Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir") and (...La Cathedrale engloutie) Twelve haunting miniature paintings using every key on the piano as if it were a pallet of colors in a paint box. A quote from Debussy: " MUSIC IS THE EXPRESSION OF THE MOVEMENT OF WATERS, THE PLAY OF CURVES DESCRIBED BY CHANGING BREEZES. HE WHO FEELS WHAT HE SEES WILL FIND NO MORE BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE BOOK WHICH, ALAS, MUSICIANS READ BUT TOO LITTLE: THE BOOK OF NATURE..."

The French have an expression: laisser l'esprit vaguer...meaning: To let the spirit wander...
Since 1986 I have made a journey to NYC to study with a master teacher of piano. Such a glorious event for me. Because of my work in the summer I do not have the time to practice two and three hours a day, but never the less the knowledge and lessons I learn from every breath I take on these trips is worthy of a great essay in the adventure or one's pursuit in expanding talents and dreams. I was working on a lecture/recital a couple of years ago and in cleaning my music cabinet came across some notes Carol Montparker had made for me during my time with her and in her wonderful home/studio in Huntington NY.
THE REVERIE: "This belongs to you! It is yours! Touchingly beautiful!"
GOD, what a blessing on my musical head! (some of the rest of these notes are rather severe, like: FIRST BAR!!!! MONITOR YOURSELF TO AVOID EVER SOUNDING HARSH OR STRIDENT, Even if "fff" bars are marked..." Carol is a genius when it comes to "touching" the inner musician in all of us.
I must play this program right now. Every time I play the Preludes I discover new and touching pathos of emotion and light.

Carol site is: www://montparker.com/ Or do a google search. I'm spending the evening at the keyboard with Debussy.