《La Plus que Lente》

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Debussy named this piece “La Plus que Lente,” meaning the even slower waltz. He wrote this waltz for piano. Written in 1910, the piece debuted at the New Carlton Hotel in Paris two years later, where it was transcribed for strings and performed by a popular Romany band. At the time, Debussy was quite popular for writing a piece in a popular style. The piece is marked “molto rubato con morbidezza,” indicating the composer’s encouragement of a flexible tempo. The entire piece is in triple meter, and includes variations in rhythm and timbre between the phrases. A cello made by French luthier Jacques Boquary (1680-1730) in 1719 is used in this recording. This is an arrangement written for cello by Paul De Jong. It makes the agreeable and comfortable feeling of Debussy’s music even more tangible, giving the listener the beautiful sensation of floating in clouds.