Debussy La Mer

In flurry of whirlwinds of whole tone and pentatonic color, a voyage awaits out at sea. The colors of gold, aqua green and blue cloud the lends of vision. Woodwinds and strings cascade up and back down in a chromatic and pentatonic grind that has more than a bit of whimsy to it. In the Impressionist Era, everything was about color and how color could transform life and art. In this painting of a musical work, Debussy goes all out and paints a picture of a ship on its maiden voyage out to sea, complete with the waves and the ocean breezes. You definitely get a sense of what’s going on within the texture of the piece. It is a teeter-totter kind of relationship between the woodwinds and low to mid strings where the piccolo and higher woodwinds slide chromatically (or better yet glissando) up and back down over this rather slowly flowing string bed. In my mind, this is where the waves and the ship image come to mind. The ship and its cargo are the woodwinds where the strings are the undercurrent of the waves slowly lapping in a steady rhythm with each other.

There are a few more striking portents—like a stop at the midway point  where the woodwinds have a lyrical episode with each other. The strings soon end up copying or at least mimicking some of this and then before you know it—the piece has ended in another flash of brilliant color. Go ahead and compare this to Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe and you’ll find peaceful music for everyday life.