The Transcriber’s Art - Soundboard - Summer 1998

Richard Yates

     The place was Paris, France; the date, April 20, 1910; the event, the inaugural concert of the Société Musicale Indépendente; the music, the world premier of piano duets by the foremost composer of his day, Maurice Ravel. In spite of the enormous pressure on the players in this situation, the composer was greatly pleased by the performance. He wrote to one of the pianists, 

	"Mademoiselle, when you are a great virtuosa and I either an old fogey, covered with honors, or else completely forgotten, you will perhaps have pleasant memories of having given an artist the very rare joy of hearing a work of his, one of a rather special nature, interpreted exactly as it should be. Thank you a thousand times for your child-like and sensitive performance . . . ”

The pianist who received this lavish praise? Jeanne Leleu, age seven!

      Mlle. Leleu was apparently not a child prodigy, but she did later have a career as a concert pianist. Three years after this recital, Ravel wrote a brief prelude that he dedicated to her and which is the featured transcription of this installment of The Transcriber’s Art. It is charming miniature, rarely heard, and I believe not previously transcribed for guitar. It is guitar-sized for the most part, although the range is a bit wider than we guitarists are comfortable with - more on this problem soon. Ravel’s comments on the music for Mlle. Leleu’s recital might well have been made about the Prélude: "My intention of awakening the poetry of childhood in these pieces naturally led me to simplify my style and thin out my writing."  

Impressionism					

     Although its roots were earlier, impressionism in music is usually first associated with Claude Debussy. The term was originally used to describe painting techniques in which there was a deliberate avoidance of sharp outlines. The transfer of the term to music is often metaphorical and, well, ‘impressionistic’, but implies a lack of definite structural form and avoidance of clear tonal centers. There is an abundance of unresolved dissonances, harmonies with added notes, parallel chords, and whole tone scales. 	

     In attempting transcriptions of impressionistic music to the guitar we find characteristics that ease the task, but also those that make it more difficult. The harmonic language includes chords with many different notes. The usual solution to large chords - deleting duplicate notes - often does not apply and we are left with harder decisions. Even if there is a relatively satisfying solution that retains the notes deemed essential, still the smaller chord will give sharper ‘edges’ to what originally was more ‘blurred’. Ironically, deleting nonharmonic or dissonant notes from a large chord actually draws more attention to those that remain and can make the sonority sound more dissonant. On the other hand, impressionistic harmonies, and even melodies, can often be altered without substantially changing the overall sonority. There can be many equivalent ways to achieve the same impression. To the extent that transcription involves recomposition based on what is perceived to be the original intention of the composer, impressionistic music allows us more freedom than, say, a Baroque fugue. Lest this be considered a cavalier dismissal, or lack of appreciation, of the subtleties of impressionistic music, consider the parallel case with painting. Altering specific  elements of a highly realistic painting would be immediately obvious and a clear violation of the painter’s intent. With an impressionistic painting there could be many elements modified without noticeable effect. An assumption of impressionism is that appearances do change as circumstances, such as the light, change. It seems reasonable to similarly assume that sound changes as circumstances, such as the instrument, change. The details discussed below may help clarify these ideas. 

Prélude á Mademoiselle Jeanne Leleu

     While most of the transcription of the Prelude was straightforward (we can be thankful that Ravel did thin out his writing), there are several points that may be of interest to readers.

     The first concerns the bass lines in measures 4, 6, and 8. Play through them if you would, please. Did you notice anything amiss? My hope is that you did not, of course, but the facts are that I changed some notes outright in these bass lines. Now, transcribers change notes all the time. Usually, however, they move them up and down octaves, add notes in an established harmony, and certainly delete lots of them. But here I have blatantly changed a few. The original lines looked like this (transposed up a fifth to match the guitar version): 
								                               
                                      //////////  INSERT FIGURE 1 HERE //////////

The problem is that common one - the guitar’s range is too narrow. If this were a Mozart piano sonata, we might try the octave transposition trick, but that would miss the point. The essential feature of this bass is its shape more than its specific pitches. Here the way to preserve the shape is to change the pitches, hence my solution. Note also that the result in measures 4 and 6 is a short whole tone scale - one of the characteristic features of this music. Measure 8 presents a slightly different problem as there is no lower note that can be substituted for the low A. The solution, as you can see, is to turn the eighth rest into a quarter rest and simply leave out the A. Here the shape of the line is more important than the rhythm. Ravel has even told us this at the head of the piece - ‘d’un rhythme libre’ (with a free rhythm). So, the shape has been saved and the rhythm sacrificed.     

     Another interesting spot is at measure 12, but first some background. The blurring of structure and outlines in impressionistic piano music often takes advantage of the damper pedal. When it is pressed, notes continue to sound even after the key is released. There is then an overlapping of harmonies that blends and disguises the progressions. The only score of this piece that I have found indicates that the damper pedal is to be pressed at the beginning of measure 2, and there is no indication to release it until measure 22! Although it is possible that this is a typographical error (please let me know if you have any authoritative information on this), it is also consistent with an impressionistic approach. Transcription should try to find equivalents for this on the guitar, for example in using cross-string scales where possible, and playing scales in such a way as to allow subsequent tones to overlap. At the least, attempts should be made to preserve the written length of notes. 

     Now, look at measure 12 now and notice the left hand fingering. Contrary to what I have just said, the fingering does not allow the half notes C and E to sustain for their full value - they appear to have been shortened abruptly by half. Time for another digression (I promise that we really will get to the point soon).

     Each note sounded on an instrument is actually a combination of many different  pitches called harmonics or overtones. We hear mainly the lowest of these, called the fundamental, but there are also present, in ascending order, the next octave above the fundamental, the perfect fifth above that, then the perfect fourth, major third, minor third, and so on. The relative strengths of these partials largely account for the differences in tone color between instruments.

     We take advantage of these overtones when we play natural or artificial harmonics on the guitar. When we do this we stop (damp) the fundamental and lower overtones from sounding and allow the upper ones to ring through. This phenomenon of vibrating strings also shows itself in another way. A string that is not plucked, but is in the presence of sound (usually from another string), will vibrate if it has overtones that match the pitch coming from the string that has been plucked. This is called sympathetic vibration. Try this experiment. Put your second finger on the first string, fifth fret. Pluck the string strongly, being careful not to touch any other strings with your left or right-hand fingers. Silence the string immediately after you have plucked it, again without touching any other strings. Listen closely. You will hear that A note continuing after you silence the first string. Do the experiment again but this time rest the first finger of your left hand lightly across the strings as if holding bar on the fourth fret - but only to muffle these strings. The A note stops dead this time. With a little more experimenting you will find that the fifth string carries on the high A (its third harmonic) as does the fourth string (its second harmonic).

     Sympathetic vibration can be enlisted as the damper pedal of the guitar as I have done in measure 12. Pluck the three string chord that starts the measure. Be sure to only barre the top three strings. Silence the three strings immediately. You will find that the E note has been picked up sympathetically by the fifth string (its second harmonic) and by the sixth string (its third harmonic). This sympathetic E covers the shift in position as you move on to the second beat of the measure. 

     My rather longwinded explanation of this fingering technique may seem out of proportion to the effect that it produces, but as you examine printed editions and make your own decisions about fingerings you will find that it can help out quite often. Attention to this phenomenon will also sharpen your ear for other details of sound that are easy to overlook but which contribute substantially to the musical effect that you produce. 

     I hope that you enjoy the Prélude and, as you play it you might try to imagine yourself in as prestigious and historic a moment as Mlle. Leleu was and live up to the praise that she received from the composer.

     Please send your transcriptions, comments and other correspondence to:

Richard Yates
840 Judson S.E.
Salem, OR 97302
E-mail: yateslau@teleport.com (please note new E-mail address)