Premiere Rapsodie, Claude Debussy

The intro starts off with just piano, just playing soft octaves. The clarinet enters on do-re-mi, and creates a soothing effect. Before the clarinet enters, the piano almost leans into the entrance of the clarinet, and the clarinet sort of mirrors the beginning notes of the piano. The feels as if it is random, because there are so many octave jumps and fast-slow rhythms. The transistor into the first theme has a sort of fridgen-sounding cadence. There is a complete change in style signified by the piano landing directly on one, modulating a minor third down(?). Overall, the intro seems to have an evasive feel, with an emphasis mainly of the rhythmic interaction of the piano and clarinet; especially with the octave leaps. The first theme has a sort of care-free, happy sound to it. There isn't a whole lot of emphasis on any main beat, but a lot of pull to certain notes, almost swinging. The piece follows a pattern of going from the first theme to a more rapid, tension filled tonicization, and back to something similar to the first theme. This piece is full of deceptive cadences and tonicizations. Several of the modulations are common tone, and creating a feeling of falling from one place to the next. Solfege wise, in the piano part, I heard a lot of sudden hopping intervals and octaves, especially in the more rapid parts. After the first theme, I heard a brief tonicization of the parallel minor key, and modulating back to the major by common tone. Overall, I got the impression of an unfinished feeling, until the ending, which has a builds up and ends soft and suddenly, contrasting with the many up and down moods of the piece. At times, the clarinet and piano felt as if they were chasing each other; adding to the playful, fun feel the piece also exhibits. All of the sudden tonicizations and tempo changes have created a lot of tension and at the same time contrasted with a swingy, fun feel.