Tropes de : Bussy for orchestra (2017-18)

Tropes de : Bussyoriginated from orchestrations of some of Debussy’s piano PréludesI undertook early in 2017 in order to explore his music, in particular his late works for orchestra and for piano. As I kept re-working my arrangements again and again, I gradually started to modify the original music a bit more each time, as if adding more and more interpretive filters with each attempt. A few months later, Ludovic Morlot manifested interest in the project and suggested that write an original work based on some of these piano pieces. I then settled on five Préludesfrom Book I, and imagined a series of tableaux (the four movements of the work), each one using completely different techniques to transform the original texts. The common thread throughout was a desire to recover and expand on the essential character of the chosen Préludes, as if bringing them back from the past through a translation, while in fact avoiding any direct reference by transforming the themes, harmonies, even colors, to the extent that the originals would become practically unrecognizable, only occasionally giving them a chance to pierce through to the surface, so to speak, unfiltered. Consequently, while Debussy’s music makes only brief, sometimes ghostly appearances, its presence can nonetheless be felt almost all the time in many different guises.

Another dimension was added by bringing in dialog – through the use of partial quotes – other works by Debussy and some of his contemporaries. These fragments, usually triggered by association of ideas in the contexts in which they are presented appear fleetingly, as in dreams, with minimal alterations; but they actually constitute an essential aspect of the composition because they reveal deep musical connections to the Préludesand, more broadly, to some of Debussy’s typical idiosyncrasies; for example, the basic rhythmic pattern of La danse de Puckis found in several other works by Debussy of the same period; the allusion to the barrel organ sound in Minstrelsrecalls more obvious renderings of the instrument in works by Stravinsky (Petruchka) and Berg (Lulu).

The title of my work (as well the titles of each movement) is a reflection of my approach to the original texts: “Tropes de : Bussy” is at first glance a pun on the French composer’s last name; but it also reflects the distance I took from the original texts, revealing and at the same time hiding most of the actual music.

The movements refer to the following Préludes:
I. So-yeux                               Prélude IV: …Les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir

II. :Un peu champ-être, ?       Préludes XI: …La danse de Puck, and III, …Le vent dans la plaine

III. La neige sur les                 Prélude VI: …Les pas sur la neige

IV. Machines in?certaines      Prélude XII, …Minstrels