Debussy THE SUNKEN CATHEDRAL - Analysis

[@michaelnn-]

4:36 watch out!! You probably haven’t played this piece in ages, but id like to mention the chord in the right hand is B-E-B, not D-G-D!! What a masterclass, though, you managed to give this piece an amazing depth of imagery and so much emotion and passion was put into this

[@glichardo]

Knowing the history and what Debussy was inspired to compose this piece helps that when you play it and listen to it you can feel the piece, not just play notes that form a harmony and little else

[@ericspianoschool]

I loved the imagery. You provided the church, bell towers ringing through the water at the beginning, and they get uncovered as they are rising out of the water and we have a more direct sound. Very thought-provoking as I start this piece.

[@hamzadlm6625]

you're narration and comments and voice are as peaceful as the pieces you cover

[@altareggo]

REALLY nice analysis!! Your love of the music shines through, and you pay attention to details and did your homework. KUDOS!!

[@SonataSecrets]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! :)

[@tlampful]

@@SonataSecrets It's true, wonderful job! And your love of the music is evident which makes it even more enjoyable and engaging! Thanks!

[@Jivansings]

Well spoken ! I played this at my senior recital at Tulane in 1989. I was not a piano major, but Faina Lushtak took me on as a student because I loved to perform (more than my technique warranted!) and I responded well to her Russian teaching style. Thank you for stirring those wonderful memories and my vision of that Cathedral.

[@jeravincer]

I studied this piece in Yr 12 in Queensland, Australia, in 1991. I still seek it out. Thanks for your brilliant analysis.

[@dingoswamphead]

Thanks Henrik. It has always made me think of golden rays of sunlight shining through green water to a glorious cathedral in the sea. I had not heard the story behind it before. You show the rationale behind the work, helping to explain its musical mystery, and how the cathedral seems to rise out of the water and then submerge again.

[@HaliPuppeh]

Such a beautiful and sensitive performance of one of the great solo piano masterpieces. You are truly a skilled pianist, Henrik. Thank you for this.

[@SonataSecrets]

Thank you so much Hali!

[@johannesbrahms7414]

Debussy's "The Engulfed Cathedral" is a, TRULY, powerful Work!!!! It is so POWERFUL that the youngest toddlers from, any- where on the Planet can instanta- neously be "struck" by it, and, FALL IN LOVE WITH IT!!!! If Music Educators were to start presenting their students, this, and other such Works, the popularity of Classical Music shall explode with a "BANG" as huge as the "Scientific BANG" which caused Debussy to compose it!!!!

[@neutral_puma845]

Thank you for this. It really helps me as I'm learning it now.

[@SonataSecrets]

Thanks, I'm glad it's helpful!

[@FrancescoLucchetta]

I love the different elements you imagined! I had some ideas of my own as to the possible meaning each phrase, but your interpretation game me some brand new ones to try out. And for that, I am very grateful!

[@classicalroach]

Thank you!!! This video is seriously underrated!

[@SonataSecrets]

Thank you so much :)

[@JayMSinger]

Re: Sostenuto. At 7:44 I hold the low pedal point with the sostenuto pedal then pedal the chord and release it on beat six. Just one example of where one would use that middle pedal...

[@rodterrell304]

Thank you so much. I would love to learn this piece as an amateur pianist but I just can’t stay focused long enough anymore to sit and practice these beautiful pieces. I wish I had started when I was younger. You play beautifully sir.

[@SonataSecrets]

This is probably not a good piece if you don't have a habit of practicing piano, because you need to change positions so much in here. There are other pieces that have much less of that.

[@lordspongebobofhousesquare1616]

hi nice video! Debussy's preludes has some of my favorite piano pieces, such as voiles and les collines

[@SonataSecrets]

Thank you! I have played Voiles too so I might do a video on that some time in the future actually. It's amazing the sound worlds in those pieces. Minstrels is another really nice one I think.

[@mchargd]

Fantastic, wonderful analysis of ‘The Sunken Cathedral’, well done.

[@mohhingman]

Thanks Henrik for making this video. I loved listening to your analysis, and the passion underneath it. It's a powerful piece of music. Debussy's use of extended harmony really touches me. I really can see/feel the sunken cathedral rising in my mind, the music paints that picture.

[@JMHV]

Great stuff! I would love to see more Debussy from you!

[@prettyfar7002]

Those Par. 7ths before the muffled bell --- remind me of sunlight bending through mist, like the "green flash" in the final moments as the sun drops into the sea on the horizon, those par. 7ths, a flash of the cathedral block chord theme as it slips beneath the surface?, thank you for for your thought provoking and careful videos , I really liked your concept of thick air with the scriabin nocturne as well

[@SonataSecrets]

Thanks Pretty far! That's a great image, because it's like Debussy in bending tonality with the 7th chords there.

[@bernardwills9674]

Great! I am SO in love with this piece!

[@bernardwills9674]

Partly because I am an early music fanatic and can hear an organum ringing out from this mysterious cathedral...which I think Debussy was knowingly evoking

[@EmanuelSpader]

By far the best classical music analysis i've seen on youtube! You just got a new subscriber.

[@SonataSecrets]

Welcome to the channel :)

[@simondoolin816]

Thank you so much for this! I am performing this beautiful piece at my first recital this weekend. Thank you.

[@philipnotman6476]

A true masterclass! I could see the cathedral moving from the water. Thanks.

[@penelopestoute4592]

Thank you so much - you have brought this piece alive for me, and I will replay this over and over until I grasp the piece thoroughly.

[@classicalroach]

Hey I have listened to this video so many times. It’s a great study for this work. I’m definitely going to learn this piece next. I’m a huge follower of Debussy. This one really distills a lot of his essential magic and it’s pretty much as impressionistic as you can get. Love it. Thank you for this video, it’s fun to watch and very helpful.

[@simonkramar2501]

Your clear love for the music is so infectious! I really enjoyed listening to your ideas and interpretation:)

[@shin-i-chikozima]

His lecture is inspirational and magnificent From a Debussyiest of Tokyo,

[@alexmantua]

Nice playing, very beautiful chords from Debussy.

[@SonataSecrets]

Thank you!

[@mrs8357]

Very nice analysis, thank you !

[@markandrewpiano]

Beautiful playing and great analysis. Thank you for sharing your performance of this piece.

[@SonataSecrets]

Thank you very much!

[@PianoDawg1620]

Serious goosebumps at the climax! Magnificent interpretation!

[@natalefarrell9486]

Love the bells! Thank you!

[@geoffgarnett7121]

Excellent analysis - really helpful

[@SonataSecrets]

Thanks!

[@petorstevons3968]

Probably the best performance I've heard so far!

[@wasfuerkeksigkeit]

absolutely loved this, thanks

[@dominiquemanchon9914]

Great! I love the low C alone (without its upper octave) at 6:33 and during the climax which follows, although the indication "coll' 8va bassa" on the score is ambiguous.

[@scrambled_eggs149]

Very useful and helpful thank you

[@Philar72]

Thank you! My mother used to play the Engulfed Cathedral in college, and notes on her music are fascinating. Confirming the interpretation of the musical scene is amazing.

[@biaferronato]

This video deserves an Oscar. Seriously. Thank you! 🖤🎹

[@SonataSecrets]

I want to thank my mother and my piano teachers.

[@yesdemp]

Fantastic!

[@vettejakes]

Amazing piece. Like your interpretation!

[@TheMuteSwan]

What a beautiful piece of music. Very insightful analysis.

[@alcyonecrucis]

Bravo, really liked the analysis, also think this is an important piece in the Preludes harmonically... and it sounds great. Think I’ll try my hand at composing!

[@christanath4303]

Excellent video- very insightful analysis.

[@hannamurphy9615]

Thank you!!

[@lgreenfan]

Great job!

[@olivierherment1188]

Merci beaucoup

[@SukismChan-zj9zu]

Thank you

[@TheGreatVoltini]

Thank you.

[@chuckbosio2924]

Maybe Joe Hisaishi from Studio Ghibli has taken on the mantle of composing extensive tone poems.

[@cindylee9737]

Very nice analysis! I can feel your passion of music. Thanks for the video! I like the piece more after watching your analysis. But my left hand is not big enough to play 9th on the first page (last 2 bars). Should I spread the chord or omit one note?

[@SonataSecrets]

Thank you Cindy, I'm happy you like it :) Hmm, that's a tough question... Maybe spred the left hand gently, or maybe put the top note in the left hand one octave higher in the right instead, might be another solution.

[@abelpuerta3853]

I love your channel! Great work. One thing I'd like to know is your thoughts on pedaling. I am not a pianist so I always wonder why there aren't any pedal signs in works like this.

[@SonataSecrets]

"Pedalling technique is more in the domain of the performer than that the composer/arranger because it is sensitive to both different instruments and acoustics as well as preference. In original editions, pedal markings are seldom consistent and can even be confusing. For these reasons I thought it better to leave it completely up to the pianist. A good rule of thumb is to change pedal when the harmony changes, or with the melody when it moves over notes that are not part of the same harmony." From the preface to my Simple Solutions edition vol 1.

[@johanngeorgblomeyer9800]

There is Anastasia Huppmann who plays it uniquely. The mysteriös interelation of the accordds she masters as no other.

[@kristinajohansson5099]

underbar musik. Dina berättelser gör upplevelsen av musiken ännu större för mig.

[@naokukiah]

Quand je me sentirai près à la gravir - ou à y plonger, c'est selon - cette Cathédrale engloutie de 1910 ira très bien avec les Sonneries de la Rose+Croix écrites en 1891 par ce cher Erik Satie, ami de Debussy durant un temps ou deux, auxquelles j'ajouterai également Song of the Fisherman de Sofia Goubaïdoulina, tirée de son Musical Toys de 1969, que j'ai déjà eu l'occasion d'aborder mais que je peaufinerai grâce à la lecture de l'essai de Seong-Sil Kim intitulé "A pedagogical approach and performance guide to Musical Toys by Sofia Gubaidulina", que l'on peut trouver librement en... ligne, et dont voici un extrait : «Song of the Fisherman is a piece with a simple melodic line. However, it may have hidden meanings. Gubaidulina once said in an interview, “I have never written nonreligious pieces” - and although she does not reveal her faith here as clearly as she does in later works such as Offertorium, Introitus, and In Croce, one can certainly find religious features in Song of the Fisherman.»

[@alessandrosevera3859]

This Debussy piano work had been used as example in the italian youtube cultural video "Lezioni di Musica - Armonia" of the channel "musicamonteverde". Is a really very very interesting video of this new interesting channel. If you like it subscribe at channel and share more as possible to support the channel and spread the musical culture in the world

[@eddiedecazalet6836]

A fine presentation. Congratualations. My Father used to teach this, he had his Licentiate Diploma from the Toronto Conservatory under Earle Moss. Pleased that you perform without the score ( you know it ). Do you compose yourself or improvise??

[@JayMSinger]

Since you're playing it on an upright how are you dealing with the obvious need for the sostenuto pedal? Are you just using the right hand sustain pedal? (I've learned this composition and I also have my own interpretation of the 'double time' that isn't notated in the score.)

[@brianzayman2228]

Just an idea: the last 6 bars are after the cathedral has sunken out of sight, and so these bars are the resulting awe the viewer feels from the experience

[@beverlyriley8528]

I loved this analysis and performance!! I’m currently analyzing this for a music theory class, and I’m trying to learn how to actually play it as well. Unfortunately, I have small hands, and I’m just now healing from a strain injury from playing the octaves in this piece. I was wondering if anyone had advice on how to play so many octaves while avoiding tension for small-handed people? Is this just something that may not be playable for me? I’ve tried rolling these octaves, which is okay (but I don’t like it as much). Will my hands become more comfortable with octaves eventually if I just keep practicing other pieces and generally advancing in skill? (For context, I can reach an octave, but 4 note octave chords and very loud, strong octaves are difficult and cause tension.)

[@uomi5676]

i also semi-injured my hands while playing wider-range notes and it's really not worth it, i would advise you to stretch your hands and fingers gradually, but please don't do anything by force that would hurt you

[@wendywright477]

1:13

[@uscroger4690]

This should be played on an organ with the bells on bells mode

[@bezuglich]

You need to accent his name on the last syllable- in fact all French words. Otherwise, . . . I'm diggin' every one of these vids. How about Tombeau de Couperin? Années de Pèlerinage?

[@uscroger4690]

Parallel 7th= unpredictible waters

[@bealreadyhappy]

Pedal? Hardly anyone talks about pedalling in these informative vids. Thank you though!

[@scottlerock]

You are missing much of Debussy’s writing while you play. One, you are playing this piece like your in a race to finish it. You need to slow it down to savor the melody and the grandeur of the piece. Also, in the area where the chordal structure is as you put it, “where the Cathedral sits on the water,” you ignore the middle pedal effects available to accomplish Debussy’s writing of whole dotted notes ringing after the first chord of the measures. The Sostenuto Pedal is very important particularly in this section. Using the middle pedal, you can come back and depress the notes in the middle voices to ring through after the high notes are dying out. Just some constructive criticism for you if you want to explore the intricacies of Claude Debussy’s music.

[@y2kona]

we making it out of aice music with this one!

[@brianzayman2228]

"Doux et fluide" means "sweet and fluid"

[@Nicolas-io5hj]

Debussy n’est pas un musicien impressionniste, il avait ce mot en horreur. C’est un musicien symboliste, à la rigueur.

[@johanngeorgblomeyer9800]

He fails to develop the the accords slowly and plays far too loud.

[@Lammero]

The way he pronounces 'Debussy' is abusive 😅 Very interesting nonetheless!

[@johannesbrahms7414]

I recommend to you to study some Geology and Oceanography, and then, engage aggressively in research---- what, really, happened on the Western Coast of Europe, especially, the Brittish Isles in---- Pre-Christian Times!!!! However, take this to a Global Scale!!!! Note carefully, after the Premiere of Debussy's First Book of Preludes, Meteorological explana- tions for what might have happened near the site of the legendary city/kingdom of Ys, abounded. Serious Meteoro- logists were never truly satisfied that any phenomenon from the accepted catalogue of Atmos- pheris Violence Events could have caused Ys or an off-shore island with a hill or mountain crowned by a church, to submerge irrevresably---- SUDDENLY!!!! Over the many decades hence true Scientists have, slowly, but, surely, been drifting towards a consensus that it must have been a Geological Event, possibly Seis- mic in nature. In the IGY, the International Geo- physical Year, much research was carried out on "Ys-like" events throughout the world. Stories with the badic characteristics of: 1) a coastal city suddenly sub- merging violently 2) an off-shore mountain suddenly submerging violently drowning its denizens were found along the Western Coast of Europe and its nearby islands, down the Coast of Africa too. These tended to peter out the farther South one investigated, but were more abundant in the vicinity of the Brittish Isles. Note the "Impressionistic" works, The Garden of Fand and Tintagel! The plurality of the "votes" go to a large Asteroid crash csusing the Atlantic Seismic Plate to, SUBSUME, under the European Seismic Plate along the French Coast of the English Channel, with the major Subsumption pressure occuring at the western entrance, which is at Ys! Such a site lies nowadays, possibly, UNDER, the coastal lands of the French Province, or Department of Btittany, which is even allowed to have its own lan- guage, close to Cornish and traditions, namely, the huge coiffures for women at an annual parade, that is still a delight for tourists! What---- FRIGHTENED---- Debussy was probably the, HORROR, of this Pre-History event itself, that amazingly, or, better, amazingly, "Karl Jungiangly" persists among the coastal residents of Brittany and the Western Brittish Isles!!!! I am of the opinion that Debussy was not a "Romantic", but rather, most impressed by---- Science. Earlier in his life he had been a "Sailor"! Finally, the only criticism of the way you played "The Engulfed Cathedral", is that your rendition had not been---- SLOW---- enough! I have always been of the belief, the "feeling" that early Twentieth Century Works must be played quite slowly, so that one can then "sink" inyo their "Mysteries", espe- cially, those informally labled "Impressionist", particularly, above all, Debussy's "The Engulfed Cathedral". Contemplate my stylistic suggestion. If you ever wish to reply to me on my comment, I will certainly welcome it, even if you tell me that, now, you shall prefer them "Toscanini Fast"!!!! All denizens of Earth, from now on, must, "have to", learn to dis- agree with each other, and, above all, LOVE EACH OTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@VassilisArt]

"De Beeoussi" is a totally inexistent composer..