LDV84

PHILIPPE BIANCONI 19 With the Études , Debussy abandons evocative titles once and for all and chooses the most abstract form possible: on the face of it, the sole raison d’être of an étude is its technical and pedagogical purpose. But this total abstraction of the subject, which in reality permits Debussy to attain the greatest freedom, in no way leads to a purely cerebral abstraction of the musical content. In any case, it’s difficult to speak of the Études in a uniform way. They contain a formidable variety of moods and atmospheres, from which sensuality is certainly not absent: the linear abstraction of Pour les huit doigts (For the eight fingers) follows the outburst of joy and the swirling waltz of Pour les octaves , the dryness and acidity of Pour les notes répétées (For repeated notes) are answered by the extraordinary layering of timbres of Pour les sonorités opposées (For contrasting sonorities) and the sensuality of Pour les arpèges composés (For compound arpeggios). Disparate elements can coexist within the same étude, as in Pour les agréments (For embellishments), an astonishing example of discontinuous form, an uninterrupted succession of ruptures, where rhythms of great complexity alternate with moments of darkness and voluptuous harmonies.