Hey everyone, last upload for the year here and I wish you all a merry Christmas or happy holidays! Feels a bit weird to do it with such grim music, but as we shed our dead leaves in dark times (northern hemisphere perspective), we prepare to grow them again as brighter times lie ahead. /Henrik

@johnnynoirman

Жыл бұрын

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday.

Love this Prelude. It’s dark and creepy, yet beautiful and luscious.

@SonataSecrets

Жыл бұрын

exactly!

I love Debussy so much. His music perfectly describes how I feel inside.

Seriously this channel is so good 🌠 This guy has mastered both classical and jazz it seems. Love how he analyses classical music as chords like on a jazz lead sheet. It's what I do too 🥰

@SonataSecrets

Жыл бұрын

I'm so far from mastering jazz but I'll take the compliment anyway :) Chords are chords though, it's just the classical way includes all parameters for the whole, and jazz leaves some aspects open to improvisation.

@nezkeys79

Жыл бұрын

@@SonataSecrets thank you for your reply ❤️ have a wonderful Christmas 🎄

Great analysis and performance! Love that swirling bit, the imagery of a falling leaf is uncannily accurate.

The whole tone movement in Measures 22-24 very strongly resembles part of the second prelude in the first book to me. It fits a lot in this prelude, too. I kind of like to imagine the theme poking its head up and asking "remember me?" before getting covered up by more dead leaves.

Terrific Analysis--You make the LEAVES GLOW IN THE DARK.

This prelude always fascinated me, it's so colorful due to this lush chords but at the same time so static and paradoxically drab

It's fitting for the winter storms/bomb cyclone we're facing in the Eastern US.... pretty ominous, but winter can still be beautiful ❤️ Thanks for a wonderful year of fantastic music and educational videos!

@mohhingman

Жыл бұрын

Debussy wrote a Prelude for that too. No 6 in Book 1 translated to “footsteps in the snow”.

Always look forward to your analyses, Henrik! Just love them. Yes, definitely a more somber piece but you've reminded us there's still so many music ideas to inspire. I especially took note when you described the difference between "sequential harmony" and "functional harmony". I hadn't realised the difference before but you've put some important new key terms in my musical understanding. A merry Christmas and happy holidays to you too!

Thank you Henrik for covering this particular Debussy prelude, my favourite. I love to watch your videos more than once. I personally love the extended harmony that Debussy uses, it’s thick and intoxicating, sometimes I’m overwhelmed. Keep up the good work and Merry Christmas, thanks for your channel.

@SonataSecrets

Жыл бұрын

I'm glad you like it! Debussy's sound world is really a rabbit hole you can go down...

This piece feels so relatable somehow, it suits my inner state somehow, thank you for the video!

The first two chords though 🥰

Yeees! Beautiful Prelude. Love the harmony!!

thanks for adding the Ravel reference. I adore both the composers, can't get enough of them.

Tack, Henrik!

I just learned to play this piece about a year and a half ago, and now it's one of my favorites of the Debussy preludes. Because I have smaller hands, I play the opening chords a little differently than written. Instead of crossing thumbs, I switch the lowest note of the R.H. chord and the highest note of the L.H. chord to the opposite hand. Therefore, instead of parallel ninth and seventh chords, I reinterpreted the harmony as parallel octave major chords in the right hand and parallel diminished chords in the left. I find this way much more comfortable to play and it doesn't really change anything in the voicing and phrasing.

Superb analysis and playing! Cheers!

Thank you, Henrik!

Great content, I love to watch your analysis and hear what you have to say about these wonderful pieces. Brilliant.

Beautiful

OMG this is the best Christmas present ever!!! Thank you!!

Thanks for sharing this video about one of my favourite pieces. I am really happy 😊

Great stuff. Thanks!

After the analysis, listening to your performance was absolutely magical, and the end made so much sense musically to me. Thank you

Beautiful. Also enjoy your videos very much.

And once again a great video, your channel is really awesome, I take a great pleasure to watch your analyses. Your french accent is very good btw ;)

Wow, I loved your analysis! Oh those dirty dirty chords hahaha. It was so funny, your remarks like “what is that” and “weird” lol. I also thought of prelude 4 from the first book. But I also felt similarities to La cathédrale engloutie. Btw your video on the sunken cathedral is so excellent, I listened to it so many times. I’m still trying to study that piece in the “stolen time” I get to practice! Thank you so much for this gift, I really enjoyed it. Debussy was a weird guy and his works are weirdly genius. Your interpretation is quite thoughtful and fun. Merry Christmas!!

Great video! Love your imagery of the twirling falling leaves. One note - I think measures 32 and 34 have F#’s in the chords, making them Dmajor chords not dminor.

You sold me.

Became a huge debussy fan growing up and learned a lot of his pieces. Out of all of them, this one was probably the most impenetrable to me. I could not understand it at all and it never fully came together for me. As an adult I think I like it a lot more, but still can't quite understand it.

Great Video! Would you consider ever doing a video on Scriabin’s prelude op 11 no 11 in B?

05:55 Debussy also used that exact same chord somewhere in the « Des pas sur la neige » prélude Edit: bar 21

Debussy was a GENIUS.

The first chord is a minor 9th dominant F# with the 9th on the bass

Great video as always! The emergence of the F# Major chord in mm. 31 as a point of rest causes me to interpret the opening chord as simply being a 'dirtied up' version of the same F# Major chord, occupying a whole measure in both cases.

Fantastic video! Would you want to do some Mozart? I'm learning the a minor sonata for an audition and would love to see your thoughts!

@SonataSecrets

Жыл бұрын

I have done it! Mvt 1: kzread.info/dash/bejne/e32J0dSyfJDXiLg.html Mvt 2: kzread.info/dash/bejne/l4l4lbGpf7HUo5c.html (but not the 3rd mvt)

I like your analysis and the imagery you use. But you missed the Octatonic aspect of the middle section. That's my favorite part of this piece. Between the #9 dominant chords, whole tone and diminished scales this piece is like a mini jazz harmony tutorial. That's the thread that unites it with Book 1 #4, there are many octatonic parts in that piece as well, or at least chords with another chord a tritone or m3 above occuring together. I agree that the ending is a little contrived feeling. It's the perceived IV-I sound of it that seems almost too regular for this lush harmonic environment. But the resolution in C# is very natural, especially after all the G#7 variations at the end of the middle section.

The autumn leaves of spring

The first chord is actually a Polychord: F#M over G dim. 7th and next is the same chord lowered a M2nd down. isn´t it?

Amazon analyse, whats your piano by the way ? Beautifull sound

Sounds a little bit like jazz.

@ryanfishel9394

Жыл бұрын

Definitely! Those C#7#9 chords especially triggered some musical memories for me from jazzier songs.

@mohhingman

Жыл бұрын

@@ryanfishel9394 latin jazz comes to mind, like Marcos Valle and Sergio Mendes

@martonio3303

Жыл бұрын

For some reason it sounds like Vince Guaraldi but somber

We can conclude that Debussy invented the "Hendrix" chord: Dominant 7#9....

sounds like Duke Ellington

Messiaen must have been inspired by this piece

Minute

Would you analyze one of my pieces? It's not written down but you can hear them on my page.

For me, it sounds like Claude was going through some anger issues.

Maybe jazz originated in France not America 😮

@mohhingman

9 ай бұрын

the improvisation and swing came from America. But that sweet and dirty harmony came from Europe.

@tj3482

3 ай бұрын

​@@mohhingmanthe rhythm, improvisation isn't uniquely American, everybody improvises

just gonna say that you look a bit like czerny.

@SonataSecrets

Жыл бұрын

haha that's a new one!