Hyperion Records

If Debussy’s intention that his ‘slower than slow’ waltz, La plus que lente, should be taken as a parody is not clear enough from his tempo direction, Lent (molto rubato con morbidezza), it is surely confirmed by his statement to the effect that it was written to suit the taste of ladies who take tea. Even so, it is impossible to hear its hesitantly syncopated G flat major main theme, its harmonic suspensions, its appassionato outcry in right-hand octaves, even its apparently aimless continuity and its drawn-out ending without detecting, and sharing, an affection for the object of his irony.

from notes by Gerald Larner © 2009