Interrupted Serenade

Piano trying to sound like guitar…

I had linked to Claudio Arrau again, one of the greatest pianists who has ever lived, but the time stamp did not work well because the video was with much more than one piece. So I changed to Michelangeli, another legendary pianist.

This is a short Prelude by Debussy. He wrote two books of Preludes, all very unusual, free-form pieces that often set moods. He wrote the title of each at the end, to show that he really wanted people to love the music independent from any kind of description.

Debussy basically change the way we process music while listening. In his music you can hear a lot of the sounds that are used today in jazz, computer game music, film music and other kinds of background music.

8 thoughts on “Interrupted Serenade”

  1. This sounds different unique, but maybe it sounds like a serenade to others. I don’t really know what a serenade sounds like, so maybe this is a good example? Maybe, maybe not.

    1. Look up the word “serenade” and see if you can get an idea of what it is. My mental image is of a someone “serenading” someone else, usually on guitar. Debussy wrote this with a guitar in mind. More important: does it make you feel happy and optimistic? Or is there sadness there too?

  2. I like Debussy more and more. You don’t have to listen to some ongoing story that goes along one or two lines. The colours and patterns keep changing. I like it for listening, and I think, even more for playing (given the abilities to do so).

    1. Some of the Preludes don’t sound to me in any way like their titles. I do find the titles interesting. But for this one you really can hear a guitar player, and is really interesting to hear this with guitar. I LOVE this rendition:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvh8qqrjS-8

      But I wish they were a bit freer with the tempo, because they lose some of the looseness that is in the piano version.

      This one I like better for freedom and tempo, but some of the voicings are wrong, and maybe it’s a bit too slow. I do like the feel though. There is so much soul to guitar.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEvwH-SOwdk

      There are also some notes here that are clearly wrong.

  3. I’ve listened to half of these preludes and find them to be very enjoyable and unlike anything I’ve heard before. Can’t wait to hear the rest.

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