Spanish pianist Alfonso Gómez plays Préludes (Books I & II) by Claude Debussy.

24 MP3 Songs in this album (83:53) !
Related styles: Classical: Impressionism, Classical: Debussy, Solo Instrumental

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Alfonso Gómez: Igniting the senses (Text by Elixabete Etxtebeste)

The preludes / Between independence and unity

What is going on with these preludes, that they should not be considered impressionistic nor preludes nor a series? Claude Debussy makes us think of the je ne sais quoi of music by leaving us two volumes with twenty-four separate, yet related pieces that not only encourage the performance of each one, but also their relationships through numbers, motifs, tonalities, resources, quotations or titles. He sketched an itinerary on a sensorial map that we will be travelling along this time with pianist Alfonso Gómez, an expressive, precise, refined musician ready to be transformed in each pieceâs je ne sais quoi.

It is understood in music that preludes are pieces that precede another main piece. When this is not the case, they are typically brief studies written to provide piano students with minimally satisfactory short pieces. However, Debussy wrote his 24 preludes without any other major work to accompany them; they are autonomous compositions, presented in two volumes of twelve pieces each. Yet, they do not share the same degree of difficulty, nor do they make up a sequence for learning technique. Although the second volume reveals a more advanced musical language and involves greater challenges in terms of the piano and sound, both volumes contain relatively simple pieces as well as other more complex pieces that are mixed in both their range of difficulty as well as their expression. When they are not technically challenging, they are demanding in terms of interpretation and thus offer very different opportunities to seek accuracy and expression at the same time.

The first twelve preludes make up the first volume. The preliminary sketches date from 1907 and 1908, the final manuscripts from late 1909 and publication from 1910. The second volume began to take shape in 1911 and was published in 1913. During those years, neither Debussy nor other pianists played the two complete volumes in public, but rather selected the individual pieces they wished to perform. Therefore, the two volumes are neither one series nor two; each prelude is unique both in form and expression. They are preludes to themselves and yet the order is not arbitrary. Debussy conceived the arrangement and numbered the preludes. The details of publication leave no doubt about that, while posing a clear question: Why did the composer take so much trouble to put them in order if they do not ultimately need to be performed in a series?

The numbering of the preludes does not follow the chronology of their composition, and although there are links in motifs, tonality, character and other aspects, evidently none of them cut across the entire collection in order. The fact that there are twenty-four of them might be a deliberate historical link. When only some of them are performed, the relationships between the preludesâ tonalities and motifs suggest that they be chosen accordingly - something Debussy himself did - but the titles, character and links with painting or literature also offer criteria for grouping.

The titles quote, describe or present people and places, real and fantastical scenes. They reflect impressions from literary works, and indeed, some of them are related to epic and lyric texts. Extraordinarily sensual and different from one another â like the flavours of colours - each of them suggests an image crafted with the fantasy of all the senses. The titles appear in parentheses preceded by an ellipsis at the end of each piece. As if the composer preferred that we choose when to know where to direct the fantasy, each prelude is preceded only by indications of tempo and character written in French. However, although Debussy made some notes on the titles and in part they correspond to objects with which he was familiar or possessed, one must be somewhat cautious when thinking about programmatic intentions. Debussy was the type of composer who provides particular clues about how his music should be conceived, but the fact is that the titles do not precede the pieces, although by knowing the title, there is almost no choice but to think about the pink elephant and ask what touching it would be like.

The forms of the pieces vary and were generated through techniques of variation, repetition and contrast that were individually conceived for each prelude. This concept is expressed in the material and its treatment, which is far from the Western tradition in the use of whole tone, pentatonic or church mode scales, chromaticism and enharmonic modulation, stratification, displacement and movement of chords. Thus, the formal work does not focus exclusively on melodic, rhythmic or harmonic aspects, but also on texture, dynamics and figuration. Along with ostinato passages, there are slow, sustained tones alongside cascades of sound, melodic lines that soar as if wishing to be sung. Time seems to be organised through motion and rest, and the metric immobility of certain rhythms is broken by syncopation and groupings with a special value.

The two volumes are a good example of unity through diversity that ranges from serenity to exaltation, from calm to exploding energy. Although conceptually it does not seem necessary to listen to the twenty-four preludes in one session, it is a pleasure to do so. A pleasure, associated with the titles, which recalls the power of being transported in time and space and once again brings forth the feeling that it is very characteristic of art to offer what science does not make possible.

Performance and sound recording

The space opens up and the listening begins. Delicacy tells us that any uninvited sound is invasive and the character, determination and force pushes us like the wind or the sea or like when land allows us to play with gravity. The beauty of sound in itself. The piano that forgot its hammers.

The music offers a journey through time and space, sound and evocation. Stations en route from Egyptian or Greek Antiquity to American jazz, from landscapes of places that can be visited to submerged fantasies and allegorical beings. Scenes of natural and artistic beauty suggested by the titles, quotes and materials.

This performance has character, determination and strength. At the same time, it is elegant and jocose, forceful and thoughtful, dedicated and quiet, passionate and tender, detailed, cryptic, sinuous and rough. We know that the pianist has a sensorial map of images, verses, anecdotes, pictures, memories and fragrances. We hear how he, playing from memory, covers the routes of a guiding light, and how he transforms himself time and time again, barely pausing between each of Debussyâs travellogs.

The recording demonstrates what live taping can be, revealing indispensable conditions such as the scrupulous care of the smallest sound, a meticulous knowledge of the sound of the hall and the attentive, cautious and detailed work involved in sound recording. The impressive dynamic range of the preludes puts recording techniques to the test and demonstrates the sensitivity required of the team of technicians.

The love for things well done gives the audience the luxury of borrowing hands and soul to recreate the sensations that we choose to interpret as listeners, with a novelty brought about by later times that Debussy probably did not count on: the choice of venue for listening. One more argument that, together with the discovery of a new interpretation of a seminal twentieth-century European piano work, serves as an excuse to lose oneself while listening to it live, pushes one to hook into the pleasure of knowing new interpretations and turns into a desire to choose the time and space in which they are played.

Alfonso Gómez

Born in Vitoria-Gasteiz in 1978, Alfonso Gómez is one of the Spanish pianists with the most notable international career of his generation. His extraordinary ability of expression, his refined technique and the breadth of his repertoire â which ranges from Baroque music to the latest video and electronic compositions â have made him a performer of reference in the current international music scene.

Alfonso Gómez began to play the piano at the tender age of five. He studied at the Jesús Guridi Conservatory of Vitoria-Gasteiz with professors Patricia Escudero and Albert Nieto, where he graduated with highest honours. From 1997 to 2001, on a grant from the Álava Regional Council, he studied further with professor Aquiles delle Vigne at the Rotterdam Conservatory (Holland), from which he graduated with the highest marks. From 2001 to 2004, he studied under well-known professor Tibor Szász at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg (Germany), where he graduated with distinction as a soloist.

Gómez has offered a number of recitals in Spain, France, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Germany, Italy, Ukraine, the U.S., México, Taiwan and South Korea. As a soloist, he has performed in concert with numerous orchestras - the Philharmonic of Frankfurt (Oder), Euro-Asian Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica Europea, Rotterdam Young Philharmonic, Orkest van Utrecht, Orquesta de Cámara Aita Donostia, Musikhochschule Orchester Freiburg and Gyeonggi Philharmonic - alongside conductors such as Roy Goodman, Juanjo Mena, Jurjen Hempel, Nanse Gum, Jonathan Kaell and Scott Sandmeier.

Gómez has won 11 national and international prizes, prominent among which was the grand prix in the following competitions: J. Françaix (Paris), Ciudad de Guernika, Alter Musici (Cartagena) and Gerardo Diego (Soria). In Rotterdam, he was awarded the 1999 Erasmus Kamermuziekprijs prize.

The six CDs recorded to date for the EROL, Ad Libitum and Sinkro Records labels bear witness to the abundance, diversity and complexity tackled by Gómez. He has premiered numerous works by different contemporary composers, some of which are dedicated to him.

Gómezâ performances and recordings have been broadcast on numerous occasions on the radio and TV in Spain (RNE 2, Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid, etc.), Portugal, Holland, Germany and South Korea. He has been living in Freiburg, Germany since 2001.

www.alfonsogomez.de