During the last years
of his life, the years of the First
World War, Debussy turned his attention
to chamber music, describing himself
with typical under-statement as a ‘musicien
français’. He planned to create
a series of six pieces featuring various
ensembles, one of them for the unlikely
combination of oboe, trumpet and harpsichord.
In the event he lived to complete only
three.
All three pieces are
gathered in this collection, beautifully
performed by the Boston Symphony Chamber
Players, and they are all masterpieces
that could have been composed by no-one
else. They reflect a certain neo-classicism,
as though Debussy was deliberately paying
homage to the music of his forebears
in a time of national adversity.
First came the Sonata
for violin and piano, in 1915. It is
cast in three movements, though lacking
a conventional slow movement. Debussy
prefers instead to engage in a subtle
ebb and flow that passes through varying
characteristics but with a masterly
sense of line. These subtleties are
well articulated in this performance
by Joseph Silverstein and Michael Tilson
Thomas. In 1970 when the recording was
made, Tilson Thomas was making a name
for himself as a young conductor in
Boston, while Silverstein was the orchestra’s
leader. In due course he too turned
to conducting, in particular with the
Utah Orchestra. He was a fine violinist
who made some notable concerto recordings
too. He and Tilson Thomas present a
characterful rendition of the Sonata,
pleasingly recorded.
Tilson Thomas is also
the pianist in the Cello Sonata, in
which he is joined by Jules Eskin. While
the recorded sound tends towards reverberation
in the ample space of Symphony Hall,
the results remain satisfying. There
are just two movements, the first featuring
one of the composer’s best tunes. The
music is strongly articulated and highly
individual, and the same might be said
of this committed performance.
The Sonata for flute,
viola and harp deploys a distinctive
instrumental combination, and has become
a classic of the chamber music repertory
despite the idiosyncratic instrumentation.
The three movements are beautifully
balanced and the textures imaginatively
articulated. Since the three instruments
are so different from one another, the
onus is placed particularly upon the
quality of the playing. The Boston musicians
are on triumphant form.
If the flautist Doriot
Anthony Dwyer was heard to excellent
effect in the Sonata, the focus is unequivocal
in the celebrated Syrinx for
solo flute. No flautist would dare record
this piece without being capable of
passing the test, as it were, and so
it proves. The recording is pleasing
enough too.
The programme commences
with an arrangement of an orchestral
masterpiece. The Prélude à
l’après-midi d’un faune remains
one of the most significant works in
the orchestral repertory, often cited
enthusiastically as the gateway to modern
music. Be that as it may, the languorous
beauty of the orchestral textures is
such a feature of its effectiveness
that an arrangement for chamber ensemble
may cause raised eyebrows. Benno Sachs,
who was a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg,
made his arrangement in time for a premiere
at the ‘Association for private musical
performance’ in October 1920. Clearly
this was an act of homage, since Debussy
had died a matter of just months before,
in 1918.
The ensemble Sachs
employs is actually quite large: two
violins, viola, cello, double bass,
flute, oboe, clarinet, antique cymbals,
piano and harmonium. Therefore the transformation
is not too much of a shock, and of course
the opening flute solo is exactly the
same. The inevitable criticism is that
the pared-down scoring loses the languorous
quality of the original, which after
all could be described as the work’s
most important characteristic. Even
so, the clarity of the articulation
and the sensitivity of the phrasing
make this recorded performance most
enjoyable.
Terry Barfoot
Boston Symphony Chamber Players 
