2007年 Sep 13日 Thursday, 15:33

While listening to Claude Debussy's Nocturnes, I thought I might be inspired to write some sort of introspective, insightful, contemplative journal entry.

But alas, the words escape me, and all I can really come out with is how damn good these pieces are.

Something I remember learning in A-level music about Debussy was that he tended to think 'vertically' rather than 'horizontally'… nonsensical as it sounds, just listen to the opening of Nuages. Each chord is something special in its own right; there is little consideration for what would conventionally follow each one harmonically, but each one sounds sublime anyway.

Of course, there's also his Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune, which (if I remember rightly) contains only one perfect cadence. In 10 minutes and however many bars of music, just the one perfect cadence. Yet it all sounds, in my opinion, like aural perfection.

I admire Debussy greatly for how he (and many other late Classical/Romantic composers) did away with convention. While I'm not averse to a bit of J.S. Bach from time to time, the plethora of harmonic 'rules' that go with his music (though not of his own accord, in fairness) tend to put me off.

Debussy's music does what I think music should do… it conjures up images in the mind, provokes emotions, inspires the listener. And while, as a composer, I can't begin to hope to be as unconventional and inspiring as he and many others were, as a listener I still feel an enormous pleasure to hear these pieces.

Hm, well I guess I had more to say than I thought. Any thoughts, anybody?