Preludes, Book I: No. 4 — Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir

Instrumentation

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Musical Terms (8)

• avec une grande variete de nuances French
  With great variety of nuance — a call for rich, continuous dynamic shaping within a phrase.
  Debussy expected micro-dynamic variation — not broad fortes and pianos but constant subtle modulation of the sound within a narrow dynamic range.
• Cédez French
  Gently relax the forward motion.
  Slight easing of tension\r\nA softening of rhythmic insistence\r\nThe phrase loosens its grip
• comme une lointaine sonnerie de cors French
  Like a distant horn call — evoking the resonance of horns heard from far away.
  The sound must travel; use a subtle halo of pedal resonance and play the passage with a slight hollowness in the tone, as if heard through air rather than directly.
• dans un brouillard French
  In a mist — a veiled, hazy sonic atmosphere.
  Achieved through careful pedal management, soft touch, and blended harmonies. The notes should seem to exist within the sound rather than on top of it.
• doux et fluide French
  Sweet and fluid — one of Debussy's characteristic expression marks indicating a smooth, dissolved quality of tone.
  Requires light touch, deep pedaling, and careful blending of harmonics. The sound should feel liquid rather than struck. Common in his piano preludes and études.
• mysterieux French
  Mysterious — hushed and enigmatic.
  Debussy's mysterious passages require a specific kind of quiet: not absence of sound but sound that conceals. Play as if you are not fully sure what you are revealing.
• quasi guitare French
  Like a guitar — dry, plucked, somewhat hollow in tone.
  Used in specific pieces to imitate the dry attack of a plucked guitar string. Release the pedal and use a light, detached touch with the fingers.
• rubato French
  In Debussy, rubato implies subtle, fine-grained flexibility — a gentle breath of the phrase, not sweeping Romantic displacement.
  Unlike the broad rubato of Chopin or Liszt, Debussy's rubato is almost imperceptible — a microsecond of weight on a particular note, a barely noticeable softening of the pulse.