Day 25

So I'm back from PA, where I returned with 16 boxes of records. Seriously, this was a lot more than I was expecting, and a lot more than I have room for in my apartment; but I will make do.

Side one

Pieces: Prelude a "L'Apres-midi d'un faune"

Images pour orchestre - Nos. 1 and 3

1. Gigues,

2.Rodes de printemps

Composer: Claude Debussy

Performers: Boston Symphony Orchestra

Conductor: Charles Munch

Record Date: Non-given

Side two

Pieces: "La Mer"

1. De l'aube a midi sur la mer

2. Jeux de vagues

3. Dialogue du vent et de la mer

Composer: Claude Debussy

Performers: Philadelphia Orchestra

Conductor: Eugene Ormandy

Record Date: Non-given

In all honesty I really wasn't planning on listening to Debussy, I had Schubert's Ave Maria stuck in my head for most of the day and really wanted to listen to that; but after the first couple of Schubert records came up bust I decided on Debussy for his Prelude of a Faun. Why would I choose this piece as a substitute? because I needed something imaginative and ethereal, and if you have heard the Prelude, you know that this piece is exactly that.

While the pieces didn't quite fit what I was craving, they came close and in the end shocked me. After weeks of Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner listening to a piece by Debussy is like a slap in the face with a metaphorical glove. Which is to say that you are not slapped in the face, only feel as though you have been, but still aren't sure if you have or haven't. We're talking close to a hundred years of musical evolution (at least from Beethoven to Debussy) and a switch to something just more French. While I won't say that I was struck by every theme which always seemed to vanish, but I will say that the going from the tonal equivalent of Renoir to Monet without any buildup was...refreshing.