a little help, please...

Been a long time since I played this one and can't remember what I do here. I think playing the chord with the LH and then silently take it over with the RH is the ticket. The pedal is down all the way of course, so no problem there.

 

We don't want you falling off the bench. People will suspect too much wine :wink:

Have you tried crossing the L.H. over the right for the 32nd note arpeggio and then back to the bass?

Scott

 

ditto

 

Monica,

Make sure that it is a Spanish wine, since that is the beverage to which Debussy refers. Plus, that should really get you in the mood (although with too much you may have 176 keys to deal with.)

Scott

 

I can't resist adding to the confusion

The first thing that comes to my mind is to hold the pedal down for the first two bars, play the four 32nds with RH, the chord with LH, the bass notes with LH, and you've got to the end of the second bar to silently depress the notes of the chord with the RH so that you can pedal cleanly at the end.

I'd advise against crossing left over right to play the 32nds with LH. You want to be able to come crashing down on the chord with lots of energy, and you want a thumb on the accented E flat. A crossed hands position here would feel a little constricted (although as a general principle I do enjoy finding excuses to cross the hands over). (If you do decide to cross the hands anyway, it would be better for the left hand to go underneath.)

There, now you've got many options to play with. You should find at least one that feels reasonably natural.

 

OK, it sounds like you know what you want now, which is the most important thing. But...

...I'm a little worried that you're playing it too fast for an authentic habanera feel. Maybe you need more of that wine to relax you ;-)

 

For my taste, somewhere between 60 and 75 beats per minute. Probably closer to 65. But I'm sure you'll find people to disagree...

 

If you want to get the feel of a Habañera without listening to a performance of this one, listen to the Habañera from "Carmen" ("L'amour est un oiseau rebelle"), or the Chabrier Habañera. One thing that I noticed in my extensive research of the Habañera (a minute reading Wikipedia -- if its on Wikipedia it must be true) is that as a form it is intended to be sung as well as danced. Thus the melody has its basis in a vocal style.

Scott

 

Hi Monica

Regarding the crossing of your hands and what Scott suggests, that is how I played the ending in my recording on the site here. So.........the ONLY thing that the RH played was the long chord. The LH played the high stuff just before the chord and then all the low habanera stuff.

When it comes to pedalling, I did a lot of research before recording Debussy and ended up finding out so many things that were contrary to how we often think that his music should be played. I discovered from the old writings of Debussy and of his immediate students, written during their time and in their native language of French, that it turns out that our modern idea of pedalling almost every note of Debussy is not what he, himself, ever wanted. Apparently, he had even curmudgeonly stated that his theory was that those who pedalled constantly were doing it to hide their bad technique! Anyway, it's a long time since I did my research, so I won't try to cite sources, but will just leave you with that and wish you lots of fun with this great piece!
-Nicole

 

Monica,

A couple of resources that might help in working out the pedaling are http://djupdal.org/karstein/debussy/ Which has research into statements by Debussy and his contemporaries about his piano playing, including his pedaling.

Another is a book published by Indiana University Press -- "The Pianist's Guide to Pedaling" by Joseph Banowetz. It used to be available on-line at the IU Press website but it seems to have been removed. In it there is a large variety of pedal techniques plus articles on pedaling the music of selected composers, including Debussy and Ravel.

Scott

 

True. But it's important to remember that modern pianos are very different fron the pianos of Debussy's time. If you pedal the same way, you don't actually get the same sounds; on a modern piano you'll need to (half-)change the pedal a little more often.

 

How much different would Debussy's piano be than our modern instruments? The piano was basically in its present form by the end of the 19th century. Debussy's earliest works date from the 1880's ("Danse bohémienne" and "L'enfant prodigue", his Prix de Rome winning composition. The ones that we think of come from the 1890s, when he was finding his own style, the one that we call "Impressionism".

Scott