Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner "railroad track" symbol in Debussy

I have played this piece since 1971, so I am most familiar with it. The first mistake people make in playing this an other Debussy is that they commonly phrase the way they do with Romantic Period repertoire.

Debussy used to go nuts when he would hear people romanticize his music, which unfortunately they still do.

Debussy's phrasing is angular with one idea going on to the next.

In this particular instance, he is descending and slowing down with one idea, and then he rolls the first chord of measure # 12 and then ascends. All the caesura is meant to do is to make sure that one idea ends, and then another begins.

At the end of measure #11, I utilize a very, very slight ritard, followed by a very fast and soft roll, which slightly tapers at the beginning of measure # 13.

Thanks for asking. This a very important part of the piece, which most people play incorrectly.

It cost me over $400 to make my video, and I just don't have that kind of money to post recordings in answer to a post. However, with the following link, I can answer both of your questions.

1) Here is an example of romantic phrasing of Debussy, however the artist is the only one that I know of, (other than myself) that extensively rolls his chords in this piece. This is the way Debussy did it, who regularly played this piece as part of his performance repertoire.

For those who have taken trigonometry, they are familiar with the sine wave or the cosine wave. That is essentially what romantic phrasing is. It is song-like and rhapsodic.

That is not the way Debussy wanted his music played. He wanted it played very straightforward without hamming it up, which is what this artist does. I would have posted Lang Lang's recording of this piece as a more striking example, but I couldn't stop laughing long enough to listen to the whole thing.

2) In terms of the original question presented by the OP, this is pretty much the way I play those three measures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MswHKA4dako

The 'railroadtrack'sign is quite common in french print, it just means: 'end of section', Alkan is full of it. It has no influence on tempo/dynamics, it's just for the player, not for the audience.

Thank you so very much for your musicological input. We have all learned from it, from now on.

Next, regarding the OP's latest question, I referenced the term Romantic Period "rubato," and not legato. Here is a very recent example, of exactly just that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPaEpvTB-4I

Please compare it with the angular phrasing of Debussy. And, remember, his big piece at the Paris Conservatory was the G Minor Ballade, so he definitely knew the difference.

Lest anyone jump to the conclusion: there is no right and wrong here. There is only the compositional style of one compositional period contrasted with another.

One is played the way the composer (Chopin) intended, who was a devotee of the Bel Canto Aria style, and another is performed as Claude Debussy (classically trained) intended, who considered himself a modernist.

The "problema" is that many a pianist has lumped the two into one.

I don't play it with any breaks, either. Accordingly, I list two recordings by one of the greatest female pianist of all time, who personally studied these pieces under the composer.

They are a perfect example of what I mean by straightforward playing, without romanticizing. Even in the second selection, which is marked "Molto rubato," it is not a Romantic Period rubato.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzhaPbVlZGQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn60ugoTHtc