I just listened to the second half of tonight’s prom on BBC Radio 3 and it featured a work of interest covered in part two of the course. The piece in question was Debussy’s ballet, Le Jeux. It was interesting to hear this work again following my research of Debussy and Impressionism for assignment two.
I think I had a far greater understanding of the work than I had previously, and was impressed by the performance of the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. The harmonic advancements with whole tone scales must have been quite shocking to audiences in 1913, but of course it was completely overshadowed by Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring which premierèred two weeks later also at the Ballet Russes.
The other aspect of Le Jeux that stood out for me was the overall timbre produced by the orchestration of work. The leading role played by the flautists was of special significance but I think the whole work, now familiar to me, is a wonderful advertisement for the virtues of the Impressionist movement in music.