Debussy: 24 Preludes (Royal Scottish National Orchestra; Jun Märkl) (Naxos: 8572584)

Prospective purchasers of this disc will probably be interested in how Breiner's orchestrations of Debussy's Préludes stack up against those of Colin Matthews. Up front, let me say that I very much enjoyed this disc, but I found that Breiner's orchestrations sound like they've been orchestrated by Breiner, whereas Matthews more often sound as if they were orchestrated by Debussy himself. This is neither good nor bad, just my impression. (Matthews' and Breiner's orchestrations of the two complete sets were preceded by those of Henkemans and Brewaeys--I'm not familiar with these.)

Several points come to mind in comparing the Breiner and Matthews sets:

1. Breiner relies a great deal more on glockenspiel, celeste, and other pitched percussion than Matthews or even the composer in his own orchestral compositions. Also, his thinner orchestrations render even the full textures of "Le cathédrale engloutie" relatively lightweight compared to Stoky or Matthews. Indeed, all of Breiner's versions sound more lightweight (i.e., less full) than Matthews'. This is NOT to say that Matthews' are unstylistically heavy. Nor am I saying there isn't room for different approaches to orchestrating these pieces. It's just that, as I said, Matthews' versions more often sound as if they were done by the composer himself. Prospective purchasers should decide for themselves what is important to them.

2. The Breiner disc preserves Debussy's original order; Matthews rearranges the ordering (if one objects to this, that's what the programming feature is for).

3. Of course, Breiner does not include Matthews' postlude, "Monsieur Croche".

4. Occasionally, Matthews extends Debussy's bar-to-bar structures with material of his own invention derived from Debussy's. Usually these are only a few bars, the sole exception being "Le vent dans le plain," where Matthews' interpolated development is quite a bit longer. Breiner sticks pretty closely to the original bar-to-bar structures throughout, with perhaps the addition of a prefatory note or two here and there. Both orchestrators interpolate "filler" motifs where they find it necessary to eke out Debussy's original piano writing to make it sound more characteristically orchestral. This is a legitimate option, and both orchestrators are adept at devising stylistically appropriate material for this purpose.

5. For reasons stated above (1), I personally prefer most of Matthews' versions to Breiner's. The main exceptions are "La fille aux cheveux de lin" and "Bruyères", where I find Matthews' splintering of the melodic lines fussy and unconvincing. Breiner's straightforward "melody and accompaniment" approach is more appropriate for these relatively uncomplicated pieces.

The Royal Scottish National Orchestral plays beautifully and responsively for Jun Märkl. The solo violin sounds a little funky (too rich a vibrato?), but this should not be enough to deter purchase. If the last ounce of subtle rubato one expects from interpretations of the piano originals is not present in either Märkl's or Elder's performances, I doubt one could really expect that from orchestral performances--it's difficult for an orchestra to emulate the freer rubato of a solo pianist!

So, which set to buy? (This is presuming one is seeking a complete set of all of the préludes in orchestral garb--there are many other orchestrations of individual preludes, including five by Hans Zender [Debussy: Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune - Funf Preludes - Printemps - Danse - Nocturnes]) Although I intend to keep both, if FORCED to make a recommendation, I would plump for Matthews (The Debussy Preludes), but I would supplement it with different orchestrations of "La fille aux cheveux de lin" (either Gleichmann or Breiner) and "Bruyères" (either Grainger or Breiner). Of course, buying the Breiner is a convenient option. If one decides to go for Gleichmann and Grainger, both are conveniently available on a CD with Geoffrey Simon and the Philharmonia (Debussy, Vol. 2), along with several other valuable orchestrations of Debussy piano music (Molinari's "L'isle joyeuse", Stoky's "La soirée dans Grenade", Ravel's "Danse", and Caplet's "Children's Corner"), and a first-rate "Nocturnes".

Happy hunting.

There are now at least 4 orchestrations of the complete Debussy Preludes: Henkemans (who seems to have been the first), Brewaeys, Matthews and now Breiner. The latter three have all followed very recently. In addition, there are numerous orchestrations of various movements: Stokowski, Gould, Zender, Calliet, Mouton, Caplet, Grainger, Luck, Lawson, and on and on.

This recording is of the Breiner. The problem with all of the complete orchestrations is that no one orchestrator gets all of the movements right. A few will be gems, and then others are disappointments. In this case, Breiner is definitely pleasant, but unmemorable. In comparing all of his movements against numerous others, I don't find any of his orchestrations to be the best for any particular movement.

In a few cases, there are huge disappointments: The Engulfed Cathedral, for example. Nobody comes close to touching Stokowski's orchestration of this movement, but Breiner's never reaches the excitement that should be generated in this 6 minute gem. And the ending: Breiner carelessly orchestrates high, soft chords for the woodwinds, and it is very jarring (and not at all soft). It seems to have been jarring for the players as well, as one of the woodwinds squeaks and falls of his/her note at around 4'50". (This should have been fixed in editing, by the way.) There are other disappointments: Puck's Dance never really reaches the impulsive playfulness of that character (listen to Zender's orchestration of this on how to do it).

In addition, many of the movements are played too fast--presumably so that all of the movements could fit on one CD. Several movements are ruined because of this. Also, Debussy never intended for his preludes to be played as a complete set, so he wasn't careful about order when he published them. (He expected pianists to pick and choose to their own liking.) When performing the entire Book 1 or 2, you need to carefully re-order all of the movements so that there is much more logical feeling of contrast between each individual movement.

The simple answer is for some orchestra to compile the best orchestrations of each movement and record these as a set. One can only hope.

These orchestrations aim high,often hitting the mark and sometimes missing it. This is professional work no doubt and this orchestrator is a talented musician.

But he is no Caplet or Ravel. Orchestration of this type of piano music is a very delicate undertaking. The purests always have problems with orchestral transciptions of chamber works--as I well know. The question of transcibing a piano work--that is piano works of this high order is a stern and forbiding task which takes skill, gall and gumption to execute it properly.

For one thing there is no better instrument for transciption to orchestra than the most orchestral of percussive instruments, the piano. They say clothes should drawn attention to the woman rather than the woman drawing attention to the clothes. Same with orchestration. The orchestration draws attention to the music rather than becoming an end in itself. The purests understandably thing transcriptions are hack efforts upsetting the balance envisioned by the music creator--here of course: Superb Debussy.

The orchestration should not become an end in itself thus competing with the original work. Piano and chamber works--however wonderful, are smaller forms--perhaps purer forms.They are compact relative to the orchestral expansion and ae small perfect stars in he tiara of the classical music pantheon

The purests with some degree of correctness do not think you can guild the lily. Thus an orchestral EXPANSION of a humble chamber or piano creature-- can be seen as a bloated example of exaggeration carried to the extreme.

Thus it behooves the orchestra to seek smaller orchestral forms, ergo gradually stepping up to a chamber orchestra sufficient to allow a modest color enhancement of something already beautiful, finished and concluded.

So you have a gentlman here who may be impinging on the superlative creation of the composer himself, thus asserting his revision if you will OVER the creative will of a far superior musical entity--in this case the works of Debussy- that is: the great and august Debussy himself.

So have a care when you orchestrate, the tendency can be toward elaborative distortion.

This effort is a fair attempt--but listen to Caplet, Molinari and several others who have crossed over without uprooting a delicate flower and transplanting it orchestrally in not always fertile soil.