"When you don't have any money to go on holiday, you must make do by using your imagination," Debussy wrote, and the first two pieces in his triptych Estampes constitute an exotic travelog; the third piece is stay-at-home music, watching the rain. "Estampes" means print or engraving, and these three pieces are musical depictions of particular moments at particular locales. They also represent an interior journey of sorts, a newly personal idiom for Debussy, who is now seemingly unconcerned with the conventions and expectations of the salon and the concert hall.

"Pagodes" (Pagodas) manages to seem still and flowing at the same time. The stillness comes from the score's long pedal point, as well as from the harmonic restriction of the pentatonic scale, which is highly characteristic of Asian music. Despite this stasis, the music ultimately conveys smooth motion, thanks to Debussy's imitation of Javanese gamelan music; it may also be an imitation of the "Laideronette, Empress of the Pagodas" movement from Ravel's Ma mère l'oye. The music hovers mostly at low and medium dynamic levels, rising for only a couple of sonorous climaxes that soon recede into the softly tinkling texture.

"Soirée dans Grenade" takes listeners to Spain, but again the tour guide is Ravel, whose Habañera covers much the same musical territory. Debussy uses the same rhythm—which, technically, is Cuban rather than Spanish, although the French strongly associated it with the Iberian peninsula. Debussy's dreamy treatment includes rather Moorish material and, except for two brief outbursts four-fifths of the way through, avoids the fast, fiery, flamenco-inspired effects that foreigners associate with Spanish music. Manuel de Falla thought highly enough of this piece to quote from it in his Homage to Debussy.

The final movement, in the great French keyboard tradition, is a toccata, although Debussy gives it a more fanciful title, "Jardins sous la pluie" (Gardens in the Rain). Judging from the movement's rapidity, this is quite a downpour, although there's little evidence of thunder or lightning; the challenge to the player is to maintain a light touch through most of the movement. The piece incorporates fragments of the French nursery songs "Do, do l'enfant do" and "Nous n'irons plus au bois," suggesting a child unable to go out and play but taking great interest in the rain, watching snug behind some window.

© All Music Guide

###

Pagodes is the leadoff piece in Debussy's triptych Estampes. It shares certain similarities with another work in his output, Cloches à travers les feuilles (Bells through the leaves), the first piece in another triptych, Images, Book II. Both compositions imitate exotic, bell-like sonorities. Debussy was an admirer of the Gamelan, an ensemble of bell-like percussion instruments of Javanese and Siamese origin whose sounds he depicted here in Pagodes. In the later Cloches à travers les feuilles, he ostensibly evoked the sonorities of bells, but the same kind of exoticism in the piece associated with the Gamelan can be heard. Pagodes opens in an ethereal mood, its main theme a mixture of the soothing and the exotic, its upper-register writing ringing and chiming, its harmonies evoking Eastern images and flavors. Throughout, in fact, the mood remains gentle and exotic, though in an alternate guise the theme takes on a muscular demeanor, with belled sonorities loudly ringing out. The piece quietly ends and must be counted among the more successful exotic creations in the composer's keyboard output. It is also quite a substantial work, with a typical duration of six minutes.

© All Music Guide

###

Debussy liked composing sets of piano pieces in threes, as evidenced by the Images oubliées (1894), Images, Book I (1904—1905), Images Book II (1906—1907), and Estampes (1903), of which La soirée dans Grenade (Evening in Granada) is the middle work. It had caused a minor controversy shortly after its premiere when Ravel asserted that Debussy borrowed a feature (C sharp octaves) from his 1895 Habanera for use in it. He may have had a point, but Debussy would have been the last to admit to such theft, not least because his effort here is quite brilliant apart from any influence. As can be suspected from the title, La soirée dans Grenade is yet another Debussy work with a Spanish flavor. It opens quietly, rhythms and thematic bits suggesting nocturnal Spain. Gradually, the music turns livelier, especially with the introduction of a rising rhythmic motif appearing in the outer sections of the work. The main theme appears at last, a festive, proud creation that calls to mind gaudy colors, lively dancers, and romance under a setting sun. It is elegant and graceful, but subtly sensual and alluring, especially as its succeeding music softens and reverts to more nocturnal moods. This colorful, five-minute piece ends after two brief, galloping episodes yield to the serenity of the evening.

© All Music Guide

###

This is the last of the three pieces comprising yet another triptych for piano by Debussy. Jardins sous la pluie (Gardens in the rain) is a typical Debussy piece in the sense that it is characteristic of his Impressionism, evoking a vivid sense of the scene suggested by the title in brilliant colors—one can almost hear the raindrops pelting the foliage, almost feel them on one's head while racing toward shelter. Debussy had a keen sense for capturing nature scenes and this piece evidences that ingenious talent. The piece opens with an energetic, rhythmic idea, raining its busy notes all over the sonic canvas and creating a sense of joyful menace. Out of the rhythmic drive emerges a theme of playful character, first daintily in the upper register, then more meatily in the middle register. Soon the theme takes on some muscle, issuing its tones in the lower regions, after which a variation is heard in a less-driven manner. There is further thematic development, through which the mood remains bright and sunny. The piece soon ends, but rather abruptly. This work typically lasts four minutes in performance.

© All Music Guide

Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.