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How did the piano technique and vocabulary evolve between the
two Livres of the
Préludes
?
P. B.
: What is fascinating about Debussy is how many resonances exist between
the works. I already discussed the second series of
Images
, whichwas so important
to me, and the continuation in Livre II of the
Préludes
. A prelude from Livre I like the
extraordinaryVoiles could have been included in Livre II, but overall, Livre I—written
on two staffs, as opposed to Livre II, which is almost all written with three staffs—
has a“simpler” writing style, but with a fewmoment of great virtuosity (
Ce qu’à vu le
vent d’ouest
). In Livre II, Debussy took what he began in the second series of Images
and went even further, in terms of piano technique, his work on sound structures
and the relationship between the registers.Virtuosity is irrelevant in and of its own,
and is always on a poetic level.
Debussy’s scores are full of expression marks; how do you view
them?
P. B.
: They are extremely important, and I try to adhere to them as honestly as
I can. I follow the tiniest of instructions given by Debussy; I don’t think they are
extraneous, and they help us to understand the musical text, the way of moving
throughthevariousperiodsofasinglepiece.Butofcourseeveryoneinterpretsthem
in his or her own way. When Debussy notes
poco crescendo
, everyone understands
the same thing (a small
crescendo
), but no one will perform this
poco crescendo
in the
same way. My respect for Debussy instructions are not at all unquestioning, but I
believe that they are as important as the notes for a poetic understanding of what
the composer is expressing.
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