PRELUDE «TO THE AFTERNOON OF FAUN» BY C. DEBUSSY «IN BLACK AND WHITE»

Abstract

The creation of a piano transcription of an orchestral piece does not do without a certain modification of the texture of the original source, because the literal simplification of a symphonic score to a piano arrangement is perceived as an impoverished "imprint" of the original musical material, hardly suitable for concert performance. C. Debussy’s creativity includes both orchestral and piano works, the experience of writing which represents the composer as a master of sound color, which is created by the timbres of both the symphony orchestra and the piano. Prelude «To the Afternoon of Faun» by C. Debussy is such a multifaceted work, the musical images of which can be reproduced in a piano sound in such a quality, which is characteristic of a concert piano opus, that is not inferior in the artistic persuasiveness of the original. The analysis of various transcriptions of С. Debussy’s work revealed prospects for the search for new purely piano textural solutions. In this sense, the experience of the French pianist Alexandre Tharaud, who uses the formulas of romantic pianism for the piano reproduction of orchestral playing techniques and texture, deserves attention. The purpose of the work is to reveal the sound possibilities of the Prelude «To the Afternoon of Faun» performed on a piano, to identify modern textural and timbre solutions for transforming an orchestral texture into an independent piano text. The research methodology is based on the methods of musical comparativistics and organology in its piano branch, as well as on the involvement of music-historical, textological and analytical approaches. Scientific novelty. For the first time, the piano transcriptions of the Prelude «To the Afternoon of Faun» by C. Debussy are considered from the point of view of the transformation of the composer’s orchestral score into a virtuoso concert piano piece. In particular, the specificity of the piano transcription of the modern French pianist Alexander Tharaud is characterized as an example of purely pianistic modification of the texture of an orchestral work. Conclusions. The transformation of C. Debussy’s orchestral piece into a concert piano piece takes place through the search for such pianistic textural solutions that are capable of giving orchestral timbres a piano image-sound equivalent. The creation of an independent concert piano transcription of the Prelude «To the Afternoon of Faun» by C. Debussy is based on the traditions of romantic pianism.