Claude Debussy - Rapsodie pour orchestre et saxophone

[thethikboy]

sultry - evocative - erotic - images of prostitutes on evening Paris streets

[zicosiqueira]

não conhecia esta obra! sempre o rebuscado Debussy!

[thethikboy]

sultlry exotic - ecstatic - in other words - Debussy

[BrianDurocher95]

Didn't know Bruce Willis was a champion of the Saxophone.

[erreceve44]

@BrianDurocher95 Sax Hard

[TheMaxi418]

One of the best performances I've ever heard, but the director is the master Seiji Ozawa? what orchestra is it? What year is the performance?

[MrMaxmorphing]

@TheMaxi418 a jung Ozawa with the Orchestra of la Scala theater.

[RosarioNeneBaila]

@TheMaxi418 .

Hello, I had the priviledge of seeing Seiji OZAWA in Boston , MA, in a small town. 30 years ago. I will always remember his body language while conducting.

Lovely!

[saxophonesuperpowers]

I heard the reason it's not technically difficult is because he didn't have faith that she could play difficult licks...don't think she was that outstanding a player.

[jazzmunky]

Beautiful piece and masterful sax playing....

...but try as I might I just cannot get an ear for this french school of sax or whatever it is...squeeky windscreen-wiper meets nervous tenor duck. I want to like it, I really do. All instruments are imperfect but the saxophone is a particularly wonky device and even when played like a master it suffers from noticeable ugly intonation. When you play in tune by an oscilloscope it still sounds wrong.

Respect is due to players of this unweildy tube.

[hmin310]

Does anyone know what orchestra this is?

[ProfBlahson1]

I want this. So I too can play it :D

[rickbmtl]

Debussy accepted the commission from the American socialite only because it paid very well in advance. But he hated saxophone as much as Mozart hated the flute and kept postponing the composition. “La femme saxophone” as he nicknamed her was pestering him every time she was in Paris. Finally he relented halfway, i.e. writing the saxophone part but asking his friend Henri Buser to complete the orchestration.

[gotmeagrape]

lol at the tambourine player. This solo is awesome

[ItsallaboutTrevor]

what type of ligature is he using?

[drgabrielsoileau]

So beautiful, the dissonances accentuate the pretty parts.

Debussy outdoes himself again!

[srbaritono]

No entiendo por qué cuando tocan la obra original (la de Durand) se ponen como solistas delante de toda la orquesta si en realidad es una obra para orquesta y saxofón obligado. Esas cosas hay que tenerlas en cuenta. Esto no es un concierto. El solista ahí sobra.

[alonsotoro]

@srbaritono no es un concierto, es una rapsodia para saxo y orquesta y no lo digo yo, lo dice Debussy...

[srbaritono]

@alonsotoro Claro que no es un concierto, por eso no debe haber un solista delante de la orquesta. No lo dice Debussy exactamente, el manuscrito de Debussy dice Rhapsodie Mauresque pour orchestra et saxophone oblieé. Fue Roger Ducasse, su alumno y quien dio los últimos retoques a la obra, quien definitivamente llamó a la obra como tú dices.

[pumasax1]

esta muy bueno el video es claro que mondelci es un gran saxofonista ..pero la obra en si no es tan complicada en su forma original salvo algunos pasajes por tonalidad pero no es dificil claro esta en su forma original recuerden que debussy la hizo para una saxofonista no profesional que por cierto le pago muy bien ... pero aparte de eso debussy dejo en la orqesta partes escondidas pienso yo para q las toque el saxo pero no lo puso por su dificultad...

[Aberwitz88]

A propósito, ¿alguien conoce "The devil's horn"? (Obviamente, trata acerca de los primeros saxofones).

Recuerdo ahora que en alguna biblioteca encontré ese libro y jamás lo volví a ver. Me quedé con las ganas de revisar su contenido.

¡Excelente video!

[bruckner4444]

A mí en cambio el sonido del saxo me fascina, y lamento que no haya más compositores importantes interesados en él. Esta pieza me parece de lo más seductor de Debussy: las melodísa y temas así como el sonido varonil del saxo le dan un aire norteamericano, diría, e incluso gangsteril, que me hace recordar la novela negra, Hammett, Hadley Chase, etc., sobre todo en el climax: ¡siento venir los sicarios con su metralla! Claro que esto es sumamente subjetivo.

[omega0zigma]

a mi la verdad no me gusta el sonido del saxofon... pero debussy maneja unas sonoridades totalmente brutales...

[srbaritono]

@omega0zigma ¿No te gusta en el sonido de Mondelci? Normal. Escucha a otros, seguro que Bornkamp no te desagrada tanto, por ejemplo.

[etselecsora]

Un vídeo penjat per un coi de friki diu... si ets tu! xD

M'agrada :)

[batakasbatucada]

sin palabras!!! me encanta la sonoridad de los compositores franceses!!! es nebulosa y magica!!!

[stomentendo]

Ciumachella, ciumachella...

[Aljazz67]

Grande Mondelci e Basta!

[Wilxtinarg86]

never heard about this. knew the clarinet rhapsodie but not this one... i absolutely love it!

[Powa2]

Nope, I'm playing the Claude Delangle arrangement published by Édition Henry Lemoine.

[Powa2]

Fantastic, I'm trying to perform this piece but the fast altissimo sections has me stumped, if anybody has any advice on the altissimo sections, I would greatly appreciate it.

[zab666]

everytime i listen to debussy, i realize how many movie composers must have listen to him as well..

[DZAUDZI69]

very nice... muy buena ;)

[OyJoey]

Was the performance with Osawa and BSO?

[Powa2]

It's definitely Ozawa with the BSO. It couldn't be the Berlin Philharmonic.

[7damiano7]

Fatta bene questa.

[sax127]

Federico Mondelci  is a wonderful player and an even better man. I had a masterclass with him and it totally blew my mind.

[LithgowlovesBJ]

what a beautiful piece of music

I love Debussy

[HugoSax]

This interpretation, for me, has a big lack of passion...!

[ThaSchwab]

That didn't come out right; exclude "two" from the second sentence.

[ThaSchwab]

You know, I never knew that Debussy wrote for the saxophone. Figures some of the only two composers to write for the instrument are French.

[atoepfer]

In response to locobotics - I've played both pieces you mentioned and there are aspects of the Debussy Rapsodie that were more challenging for me musically than either the Ibert or the Maurice.

There is a piano reduction by Vincent David that has transcribed all the themes from the oboes & flutes (as well as some orchestral parts) and makes the saxophone take on a more central role in the piece. The subtle nuances and emphasis on tone color and timbre makes this one of my favorites.

[victorclarinete]

extraordinario

[jazzobassoon]

VERY NICE

[TheIzzoGuy]

Well, not everything has to be crazy technique to be cool. Some pieces are meant to be very slow and expressive. In some ways it's harder to play slow because the intonation and vibrato have to be perfect. If you make a mistake, everyone knows about it. When you play fast, you can make 20 mistakes, and no one will know about all of them. Plus, I think he made this piece for someone and she wasn't technically brilliant at the alto, or something like that.

[brybts]

Because the saxophone was relatively new, and no music had been written, composers of the day were unsure of the saxophones limitations and such.

[TheIzzoGuy]

yes, the saxophone was new. Then it got more attention as a lot of famous classical composers wrote for it. But now, it's looked down upon by many classical musicians claiming it's not a classical instrument. That is b.s. because here is a perfect example of tonal, classical saxophone music.

[grantrummel]

This is definitely not an example of tonal nor classical music. Hayd, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. is tonal, classical music. This work is a perfect example of a post-tonal, impressionistic concerto for saxophone. And by Debussy to boot! I could only dream of a Debussy trombone concerto...

[TheIzzoGuy]

this is not post-tonal. It's modal. I've played this piece, it goes through like 2 key changes and ends on the mixolydian. In the sax part at least. post-tonal means atonal, which this piece is not. Listen to Schoenberg. He's atonal. Nino Rota and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov wrote trombone concerti, however.

[locobotics]

while i like this composition very much, the saxophone part isn't difficult at all. especially when compared to pieces like Concertino de Camera and the final movement in the Tableux de Provence. it annoys me greatly..............oh well

[IIIThreat]

Does it need to be technically difficult to be beautiful?

[bruckner4444]

@IIIThreat Excelent question, include itself the answer...

[MsKellis4]

I don't know , but the thing I'm sure it's , it's great

[TheIzzoGuy]

This guy has a fantastic "french" vibrato! So fast and perfect for this piece. I like the expression this orchestra has and the soloist. The soloist stands in front of the orchestra no matter what type of piece. In "Rhapsody in Blue," the pianist is in front of the orchestra, even though it's not a piano concerto.

[grantrummel]

Just because the word "concerto" isn't in the title doesn't discount it as being a concerto. A work for a selected soloist or group of soloists with an orchestra is the general parameter that defines a concerto.

[TheIzzoGuy]

That's very true. There are three different types of concerti. The solo concerto being the most popular.

[jsquartet]

niente di straordinario....

[vawita]

Ah very nice performance beutiful sound and great technique,I wonder perhaps the vibrato could be a little less at some points.

great!

[sassofonista]

..in my opinion..this guy should only play this type of music. I watched the other videos..please..don't have him play any "Gershwin" type of music...just stick with the classical my friend ! For your best..

[vettigeswa]

anyone knows by whom the revision was written?

[mauronastagi]

Wow, very beautiful piece! what a performance!!! I love it =)

[Airemix]

While the recent versions may be more technically interesting for the saxophone, they are also illegal, or at least they used to be. Rousseau took some of the moving sections from the orchestra and gave them to the saxophonist. Unfortunately, the work was still under copyright at that time (and may still be) so there was a big legal stink about the new versions.  I'm not sure where everything stands now.

[verybigliar]

debussy = best composer ever

[alonsotoro]

that's the true!!!

[isusaxophone]

although Mr. Mondelci has a great sound, and I understand the producer's need to showcase such a star, I don't agree with the saxophonist being in front of the orchestra. The title of the piece is orchestre et saxophone, not saxophone et orchestra. It is meant to be a tableaux of sorts, not a concerto. As far as I can tell, the Vincent David and Rousseau versions are legal, and have been legal though it does upset the original composition.

[Polygor]

By God you're right!

[SimonPascal]

that´s cool

[jdbarrera]

It is commonly held that Debussy wasn't that into this piece, or the saxophone, and only wrote this due to a commission from Elise hall. As far as my memory serves, he wrote no other works for, or with, a Saxophone. Elise Hall was not a Virtuoso saxophonist and would not have been able to perform the more recent "fleshed-out" versions of this piece. She was a Boston socialite who took up saxophone for health reasons . So IMO, you should always play the recent versions.

[jzer21]

I agree.

[Straichen]

Actually I dont think he overdoes the vibrato. The French love excessive vibrato anyways, right?

[MercifulMe]

To be honest, I think the vibrato was a bit to much in the saxophone part. It almost sounded as if he was nervous, to the point his lip was shaking.

[joulisians]

hey it's that funky japanese conductor again

[villageidiotcamp]

You need to practice. I suggest long tones, at least an hour a day.

[Saxopwnerer]

More likely than not he has a better sound and better tone quality than you.

Unless you happen to be the professor of a big name university or the Paris Conservatory, in which case "Sorry Mr. Delangle"

[stappi63]

Nice I like it!

It would interest me what instrument he is playing?

[cclus]

Soo utterly beautiful! I've never heard this piece before. Thanks for posting!

[killwill07]

wonderful piece

[killwill07]

very, very nice piece.

[jzer21]

Overall, it's a nice piece. But I do think having the saxophone in front of the orchestra as a featured soloist is inappropriate for this arrangment. Not sure why they did that.

[Hachechulo]

Soloists in concerti stand in front of the orchestra. He would do the same were he playing the Glazunov, or any other concert work in which he was featured as a solist.

Keep going to concerts, or at least wathcing them on YouTube, you'll get the protocol

[java0033]

....beautiful

makes me wanna go practice :)

for those of you complaining about the arrangment - look at the history of the piece - who the composer was and who commissioned it - should be clear. yes there are other versions with more playing time, but not appropriate if you have an oboe to play the oboe line - etc, its all about COLOR!

but yes beautiful playing

[cyblord]

"makes me wanna go practice :) "

same here!

[bg8400]

This is the original version.... far superior than arragements done to make the peice a concerto.. Debussy originally intended for the saxophone to sit IN the orchestra... which makes sense. Because this piece is NOT a concerto. In fact, it is titled "rapsodie for ORCHESTRA and ALTO SAXOPHONE"

[jeffhampton]

Ok, I've never hear this arrangement of the piece before. Is this the original by Debussy? The soloist is good, but the arrangement,I think, is awful. The soloist only plays for 1/4 of the entire piece whereas every other time I've heard it, the soloist plays throughout the entire piece [including what the oboe was playing in the fast sections]. Do yourself a favor and listen to John Harle's perfomance on "Saxophone Concertos" by EMI Classics...it's sooooo much better.

[magieinterieur]

wonderfull

[Facade19]

Beautiful. I loved it.

[midgetsy]

I don't like his tone as much as others, like Tim McAllister or Kenneth Tse. But it definitely is nice.

[saxjoephone]

one of my absolute favorite works for the instrument. this is just incredible! Superb musicianship. Sounds like a french style saxophonist to me :) Perhaps paris or bordeaux?

[orangeparade]

wow..what wonderful tone!