Make Music Part of Your Life Series: Claudio Arrau plays Debussy Estampes, no.2, “La soirée dans Grenade”

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaEstampes (Prints), L.100, is a composition for solo piano by Claude Debussy. It was finished in 1903.

Estampes contains three movements:

1. Pagodes (Pagodas) – approx. 6 minutes.
2. La soirée dans Grenade (The Evening in Granada) – approx. 5½ minutes.
3. Jardins sous la pluie (Gardens in the Rain) – approx. 3½ minutes.^[1]

II. La soirée dans Grenade

La soirée dans Grenade uses the Arabic scale and mimics guitar strumming to evoke images of Granada, Spain. At the time of its writing, Debussy’s only personal experience with the country was a few hours spent in San Sebastián.^[2] Despite this, the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla said of Soirée, “There is not even one measure of this music borrowed from the Spanish folklore, and yet the entire composition in its most minute details, conveys admirably Spain“.^[3]

Related articles

• Great Pianists Technique Collection
• Clair de lune – Claude Debussy
• Debussy and the Piano: Part I