In the autumn of 1905, Percy Grainger gave the first British performance of Debussy’s Pagodes in a piano recital at the Bechstein Hall in London. The music’s inspiration lay in the sounds of a Javanese gamelan orchestra which Debussy had heard in Paris at the Universal Exhibition of 1889. The impressions created in his mind were allowed to foment for several years and in due course he put his musical thoughts on paper, with Pagodes becoming the first of the three Estampes of 1903. Grainger’s extraordinary 1928 arrangement—for thirteen percussionists, four grand pianos, celesta, dulcitone and a harmonium—sets out to evoke with western instruments the haunting sounds of the gamelan which had so captivated the composer many years earlier.

from notes by Edward Johnson © 2019

For Falla, Debussy’s La soirée dans Grenade (from Estampes), in habanera rhythm, was more evocative of a beloved and famously picturesque city than anything he could create.

from notes by Bryce Morrison © 2006

Pour Falla, La soirée dans Grenade (extrait d’Estampes) de Debussy, sur un rythme de habanera, évoquait mieux la cité chérie, fameusement pittoresque, que tout ce qu’il pourrait jamais créer.

extrait des notes rédigées par Bryce Morrison © 2006
Français: Hypérion

Debussys La soirée dans Grenade (aus Estampes), im Habanera-Rhythmus erinnerte Falla mehr an eine geliebte und wohl bekannte malerische Stadt als was er selbst schreiben konnte.

aus dem Begleittext von Bryce Morrison © 2006
Deutsch: Renate Wendel

La soirée dans Grenade (Evening in Granada)—the second of the tripartite piano set Estampes (meaning 'Prints' or 'Engravings')—was published in 1903. Like other French composers, such as Chabrier with España, Ravel with Rapsodie espagnole and Boléro and Lalo with his Symphonie espagnole, Debussy had more than a passing feeling for the romance of Spain despite visiting the country only once, to see a bullfight in San Sebastian. His superb evocation of a sensuous, half-lit twilight in Granada is a languid serenade, pulsing with the veiled rhythm of a slow habañera. Conductor Leopold Stokowski introduced his colourful orchestration of La soirée dans Grenade (Debussy’s original title) with the Philadelphia Orchestra on 27 November 1940 in a 'Concert for Youth' which began with the maestro’s own transcription of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor and concluded with Boléro.

from notes by Edward Johnson © 2019