~Rhapsodie pour Cor Anglais et Piano~

Here is a very rare piece; so rare that it has taken me, a Debussy fanatic, 15 years to finally track down and which is not anywhere to be found on YouTube, so far as I can tell. It is a transcription of the "Rhapsodie pour Saxophone Alto et Piano," for a lesser known instrument, a Cor Anglais (oddly enough, neither English nor Horn, as its translation from the French indicate), which is closely related to the Oboe, the difference being that the Cor Anglais plays at a lower pitch, in the key of F, where the Oboe plays in the key of C; a perfect fifth lower than the Oboe, the Cor Anglais is, thus, about 1 & 1/2 times longer than an Oboe.

The piece is, as titled, a rhapsody for the woodwind instrument and piano, the Miriam Webster dictionary defining a rhapsody as, "a piece of music that is meant to express a lot of emotion and does not have a regular form."

The scarcity of the Saxophone, and then the Cor Anglais, as featured instruments at the center of compositions in no way tempered Debussy nor his ability to compose a mesmerizing piece of music that is hypnotic, at times loud and rambunctious, at times soft and sensual, always rich in texture and color.

The piece is here performed by Oboist (performing on the Cor Anglais) Nicholas Daniel and Pianist Julius Drake.

Enjoy!

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