Sonic Asymmetry

Claude Debussy: “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune”

クロード・ドビュッシー：「動物の午後への前奏曲」

TIME COMMITMENT: 12 minutes

The poem is instinctively Homeric, spiced with transoceanic unfamiliarity with which we quickly develop sensual intimacy.  The impressionistic savior of tonality infused it with such a wealth of exotic, almost visual harmonies that, once rediscovered, it exerted profound influence on 20th century’s film music.  Here, the Aegean perspectives are deployed by none other than Leonard Bernstein.  Note the suave flute treatment throughout.

MUSIC

INFO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pr%C3%A9lude_%C3%A0_l%27apr%C3%A8s-midi_d%27un_faune

A REFLECTION

These nymphs I would perpetuate.

So clear

Their light carnation, that it floats in the air

Heavy with tufted slumbers.

Was it a dream I loved?

My doubt, a heap of ancient night, is finishing

In many a subtle branch, which, left the true

Wood itself, proves, alas! that all alone I gave

Myself for triumph the ideal sin of roses.

Stephane Mallarmé: “The Afternoon of a Faun”