The Music of the Impressionists

CLASSICAL GUITAR / SOLO / 2022

  • With picturesque qualities and an emphasis on atmosphere, tone colour, and fluidity, the music of the French impressionists of the early twentieth century captivates the listener and announces the outset of modernism. "The music of the Impressionists" is a collection of five masterpieces from the impressionistic period, arranged for solo classical guitar.

    1. Maurice Ravel - Prélude en la mineur, M. 65

    2. Claude Debussy - Préludes (Book 1), L. 117: I. Danseuses de Delphes

    3. Claude Debussy - Préludes (Book 1), L. 117: VI. Des pas sur la neige

    4. Claude Debussy - Préludes (Book 1), L. 117: VIII. La fille aux cheveux de lin

    5. Charles Griffes - 3 Tone-Pictures: I. The Lake at Evening

  • All music arranged for classical guitar by Konstantine Margaritis

    Produced by Konstantine Margaritis

    Engineered and Mastered by Konstantine Margaritis

    Layout by by Gabija Vidrinskaitė & Matthias Gustav Pan

    Album Artwork is April Shell XXIII by Gabija Vidrinskaitė


    Matthias Jun Wilhelm: www.matthiasjunwilhelm.com

    Gabija Vidrinskaitė: www.gabijavidrinskaite.com

Maurice Ravel - Prélude en la mineur, M. 65

Testament to Ravel's artistry is "Prélude en la mineaur" (Prelude in A Minor), a miniature he composed as a sight-reading exercise for the 1913 women's piano competition at the Conservatoire de Paris. With 27 measures and a duration of fewer than two minutes, the unmistakable sophistication of Ravel is apparent in every note.

One of its peculiar characteristics on the piano is the hand crossings that must be applied to execute it properly. This quality has been carefully ported to the classical guitar arrangement where fretted notes, open-string harmonics and artificial right-hand harmonics interchange.

Claude Debussy - Préludes (Book 1), L. 117: I. Danseuses de Delphes

"Danseuses de Delphes" (Delphic Dancers) is an excellent example of Debussy's eclecticism and technical grandeur. Fragmented melodies, besides modal, diatonic, pentatonic and chromatic elements; the first prélude is a thesaurus of materials, yet retaining a classical assumption of tone center and characteristic counterpoint.

Delphi is the name of a city of Ancient Greece, where the temple of Apollo, the god of music and dance, resides. Debussy paints a solemn dance still shroud in a lightness of touch.

Claude Debussy - Préludes (Book 1), L. 117: VI. Des pas sur la neige

"Des pas sure la neige" (footsteps in the snow) depicts solitude and desolation. Three underlying layers of composition can be observed; the ostinato motif that repeats through most of the prélude and resembles the footsteps, the melody that expresses emotional changes, and the pedal points that bring out the vague melancholic elements to the other two layers mainly with the use of dissonances and open fifths.

Faint and laid-back, it is unknown whether Debussy wants the listener to hear the footsteps or see the tracks of people who have passed previously from the scene. In either case, this prélude, speaks to the basic feeling of loneliness that is deeply ingrained in the human soul.

Claude Debussy - Préludes (Book 1), L. 117: VIII. La fille aux cheveux de lin

One of the most popular Debussy pieces, la fille aux cheveux de lin (the girl with the flaxen hair), is inspired by the poem of the same name by Leconte de Lisle. With the famous opening motif that falls and raises gently, as it hinges between the two outer tones, this serene prélude consists mainly of a sweet and memorable tune over a mellow accompaniment.

Unlike other arrangements of this Prélude, this arrangements is in the original Gb major key.

Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of NEUSTART KULTUR.