Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir (Préludes, Book I, No. 4)

Claude Debussy · Level 6 (Expert) · Impressionist · Piano

The fourth of the Préludes of Book I (1910), whose title (“Sounds and scents swirl in the evening air”) is a line from Baudelaire’s “Harmonie du soir”: a slow, dreamy waltz with chromatic harmonies and changing metres. A piece by Debussy, a leading figure of musical Impressionism. A major, 5/4, 53 bars (about 2 minutes), complete score.

▶ Play this piece with the interactive score

How to practise it

• Listen first: the site plays it while the score scrolls.
• Wait mode: the score waits for you at every note, at your own pace.
• Tempo challenge: play in time, with a score and a map of the bars you got right.
• The metre changes often (3/4, 5/4, 4/4): spot the changes before playing and keep the quarter note constant. Bring out the top note of the chords, like a distant melody. Fine, frequently changed pedal and very soft dynamics: look for colours rather than power. One hand sometimes plays two voices: hold the long notes for their full value and let the main line sing louder than the accompaniment. Triplets and other tuplets must be perfectly even: count them aloud with the metronome.

More pieces by Claude Debussy

• Danseuses de Delphes (Préludes, Book I, No. 1)
• Deuxième Arabesque (L66 No.2)
• Arabesque No. 1 in E major
• Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum (Children’s Corner No. 1)
• Jimbo’s Lullaby (Children’s Corner No. 2)
• Sarabande (Pour le piano No. 2)
• Valse romantique
• Clair de lune (Suite bergamasque)

Source : Mutopia Project · CC BY-SA 4.0