Vagues et ombres

 
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CLAUDE DEBUSSY / LUNA PEARL WOOLF
Vagues et ombres
Collectif9

[ Alpha Classics / CD ]

Release Date: Friday 27 May 2022

This item is currently out of stock. We expect to be able to supply it to you within 2 - 4 weeks from when you place your order.

Collectif9, well-known for its innovative programming and its unique arrangements of the classical repertory, here tackles the music of Debussy, following a first recording devoted to Mahler (ALPHA770). With Clair de lune, La Mer and Des pas sur la neige, the Montreal collective invites us into a sumptuous theatre of shadows and waves: 'Could we, as nine string players, perform Claude Debussy's La Mer and do it justice? In a musical style where timbre and colour are paramount, attempting to interpret this emblematic work seemed outrageous; but come to think of it, we like a challenge. This is certainly a reinterpretation. Being fewer in number allows us to otherwise reveal a rich rhythmic interplay already present in the work while shedding new light on the balance of voices and harmonies.' A work by composer Luna Pearl Woolf completes the programme: Contact, 'a sonic view into the underwater world of beluga whales in the St Lawrence Estuary'.

This recording developed out of our profound admiration of a great work - could we, as nine string players, perform Claude Debussy's La Mer and do it justice? In a musical style where timbre and colour are paramount, attempting to interpret this emblematic work using a single family of instruments seemed outrageous; however, we love a challenge. This is certainly a reinterpretation. Being fewer in number allows us to otherwise reveal a rich rhythmic interplay already present in the work while shedding new light on the balance of voices and harmonies. Alternatively, in Debussy's piano works, our interpretations affect the pieces in an opposite way, diversifying the textures and unifying the rhythmic direction. In the end, there is a type of balance found.

It seemed natural that this programme should include music by Luna Pearl Woolf, a dear friend and someone with whom we have collaborated before. The soundworlds that Luna creates in her music are beautifully matched with the originality and delicacy found in the music of Debussy, and we were incredibly grateful for her creativity and sensitivity. In composing Contact, Luna did not write in her usual way or usual form. Although the trademarks of her music are still present - her use of harmony and texture, her expansion of the tessitura of the instruments, the narrative quality of her writing - Contact, with its pops and whispers, departs down a new path of discovery.

Tracks:

Claude Debussy
Études: Livre I, Pour les sixtes
Préludes Livre 1, Des pas sur la neige
Suite bergamasque: Passepied
Suite bergamasque: Clair de lune

Luna Pearl Woolf Contact

Claude Debussy
La mer, CD 111: I. De l'aube a midi sur la mer
La mer, CD 111: II. Jeux de Vagues
La mer, CD 111: III. Dialogue du Vent et de la Mer