Claude-Achille Debussy
La Mer

Everyone is familiar with pictorial impressionism, the movement to which artists of the caliber of Monet, Cézanne, Degas belonged. The delicate brushstrokes, most suitable for capturing even the slightest hint of light and movement, with which these artists painted could capture even the smallest details of light and color present in the environment depicted in the painting.

Not many, however, are familiar with musical impressionism, a movement best expressed by the French composer Claude-Achille Debussy. A characteristic of Debussy's style is precisely that of... literally creating "brushstrokes" of notes: the resulting music is extremely evocative and ethereal.

The symphonic poem "La Mer" ("The Sea") is divided into three movements:

The beginning is entrusted to "De l'aube à midi sur la mer" ("From dawn to midday on the sea"): the morning dawn is represented by a "pizzicato" of the low strings, upon which a sort of "dawn theme" emerges, first performed by the woodwinds and then by the strings; a crescendo introduces us to the main theme of the first movement: in this piece, Debussy reaches one of the culminating points of his art, indeed it almost seems to be on a tropical sea on a bright morning...

The second movement, "Jeux de vagues" ("Play of the Waves"), is a kind of musical reconstruction of the movement of sea waves: the slides, trills, and pulsating notes in the introduction try to evoke the ups and downs of the water's motion, after which the oboe presents the theme, which will then be subject to a long reworking by the entire orchestra. In this development phase, the thematic fragments are literally made to "float" by various instruments in turn against the accompaniment of the still quite discreet orchestra; this movement, of the three, is perhaps the most "impressionistic": it is very difficult for us to "hear the light", the "brushstrokes" of "luminous" notes as in these circumstances.

The final movement, "Dialogue du vent et de la mer" ("Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea") begins with a series of very fast figurations performed by the double basses, representing the gusts of wind of a sea storm. The rest of the orchestra enters subsequently, with an intense dialogue between the instruments to describe a struggle of the elements: water against air, waves against wind, leading to the crescendo that introduces the jubilant finale, depicting the return of calm after the storm.

The recording I most recommend is that of the Orchestra of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia, conducted by Bernstein. The recording dates back to 1990; the disc (Deutsche Grammophon) also includes another masterpiece by Debussy, the "Prélude à l'après-midi d'une faune", performed by the same artists.