Debussy's The Girl with the Flaxen Hair is an endearing piece and a great
introduction to the musical world of Debussy. Every piano player would mostRead More
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Woodwind Quintet
Pepper ID: 11379360Supplier ID: MSLY01-312
Price:$18.00
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ME
Price:$18.00
Woodwind Quintet
Pepper ID: 11379360ESupplier ID: MSLY01-312
Price:$18.00
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Level:
ME
ME
Price:$18.00
Debussy's The Girl with the Flaxen Hair is an endearing piece and a great
introduction to the musical world of Debussy. Every piano player would most
probably be familiar with this piece, but not necessarily wind players.
However, with this arrangement for Wind Quintet, the expressive voices of
this piano piece are further explored by the colours of the Flute, Oboe,
Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon.
The opening solo is deliberately given to the flute, paying homage to
another iconic piece of Debussy's, Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune, which
opens with a lower register flute solo starting with the same note Db.
Conscious decisions were also made to give the phrases in bars 12-13 and
15-16 with larger melodic spreads to the Clarinet, whose expressive qualities
across these ranges suit these phrases particularly well.
The revisiting of the theme in bar 28, this time in a higher register, was
deliberately given to the Oboe and not the flute (not every high register
melodies needs to be assigned to the flute). Oboe's higher registers, when
played delicately to the point of almost struggling to hang on to the higher
notes, suit the sweetness (tre doux) of the solo passage particularly
well.
Not to forget the characteristic Debussy harmonies that is fully supported
and suited to be powered by the French Horn and Bassoon. These lower voices
provide the harmonic engine that powers this unmistakable Debussy
sound.
Truly, this arrangement is a challenge and masterclass in tone colour for
the Wind Quintet that demands a simultaneous homogeneity, as well as balance
that brings out the Debussy sound, yet allowing each of the characteristics
of the Wind instruments to shine through.