2 pieces:
I Pavane pour une infante defunte (arr. Kerry Turner): Lent
II Tarantelle Styrienne (arr. Geoffrey Winter): Allegretto
Clefs
Treble, bass
Meters
C, 2/4, 6/8
Key signatures
2#, None
Range
Horn 1: g - c#3
Horn 2: e - b2
Horn 3: e - b2
Horn 4:F# - b1
Creator's Comments
Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was the foremost of the French Impressionistic composers. His innovative use of harmony, rhythm and melody as colour had great influence over most of the major composer of the early 20th century, not only in France but in the rest of the world as well.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), though greatly influenced by Debussy, retreated from the indistinctness of Debussy’s use of melody, harmony, rhythm and structure, choosing for more functionalism in all of his compositional devices. His superb feel for and use of colour, and his conceptual use of “moods” and “atmospheres” ties him irrevocably to the French Impressionistic Period.
Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante defunte is a good example of this – a piece written with a suggestive title sa in much of Debussy’s music, but containing much clearer and longer melodic and harmonic lines. Composed for piano in 1899, Ravel exploited the rich inherent timbres by setting it for orchestra in 1910. Also originally for piano, Debussy’s Tarantelle Styrienne gently plays with the ambiguity of the ¾ and 6/8 meters. It was republished in 1903 as “Danse”.
Performance Notes
Both arrangements are done well, and the Pavane is in the original key (though not horn in G). Turner uses all three main colours of the horn (open, muted, stopped) to do justice to Ravel’s colour plays, and in addition there are indications such as “tres lointain” and “tres grave”. The mute changes are quick, so a bit of practicing is required.
The Tarantelle Styrienne is an interesting exercise in 3/4 against 6/8, with the whole piece in 6/8, but the internal subdivision of the bar changing frequently. The first three horns alternate on the theme, even thought the overall tessituras follow the standard “from high to low by ascending numbers”. Due to the representation of two composers, and the inclusion of the Pavane, this is perhaps the more popular publication of the two French impressionists volumes, though both have their respective merits and should not be missing in any quartet’s repertoire.