Perfect music for resetting your life balance, stress levels and general wellbeing.

Piece written for solo piano by Claude Debussy in 1909-1910. The title "La fille aux cheveux de lin" translates roughly to "The girl with the flaxen hair"

Performed by Fiona Bechmann in October 2021

Debussy - The girl with the flaxen hair (La fille aux cheveux de lin)

Camille Saint-Saëns | Carnival of the Animals - The Swan

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Debussy - Deux Arabesques

Debussy's sublime summer prelude, 'La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin'.

The indicated 'Très calm et doucement expresiff' (Very calm and gentle in expressiveness) is quietly asserting tranquility. This is a piece to be savoured and experienced like a summer's gentle breeze; incentivised by the source for the prelude - the poem that bears the identical title of the prelude, written by Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle in the mid-19th century (published in 1874). It is said that Debussy found the inspiration for the prelude within the poem, but for me, the prelude is almost a musical transcription of the poem. I include both the English translation (Laura L. Nagle, 2007) of Lisle's poem, and the original French version as well, below. Read the poem whilst listening to the recording and you will find more than a serendipitous likeness!  
____________________

The girl with the flaxen hair

Who sits upon the blooming lucerne,  
Singing from the earliest morn?  
It is the girl with the flaxen hair,  
The beauty with cherry-red lips.

Love, in the bright summer sun,  
Sang with the lark.

Your mouth has divine colours,
 My dear, and is tempting to kiss!
  Do you wish to chat upon the blooming grasses,  
Girl with long lashes and delicate curls?

Love, in the bright summer sun,  
Sang with the lark.

Do not say no, cruel girl!
  Do not say yes! I shall better understand  
A long gaze from your large eyes  
And your pink lips, o my beauty!

Love, in the bright summer sun,  
Sang with the lark.

Farewell to the deer, farewell to the hares  
And the red partridges!  I wish 
To kiss the flax of your hair,  
To press upon the crimson of your lips!

Love, in the bright summer sun,  
Sang with the lark.
  ____________________

La fille aux cheveux de lin

Sur la luzerne en fleur assise,  
Qui chante dès le frais matin?
  C'est la fille aux cheveux de lin,
  La belle aux lèvres de cerise.

L'amour, au clair soleil d'été,  
Avec l'alouette a chanté.

Ta bouche a des couleurs divines,  
Ma chère, et tente le baiser!  
Sur l'herbe en fleur veux-tu causer,  
Fille aux cils longs, aux boucles fines?

L'amour, au clair soleil d'été,  
Avec l'alouette a chanté.

Ne dis pas non, fille cruelle!  
Ne dis pas oui! J'entendrai mieux
  Le long regard de tes grands yeux
  Et ta lèvre rose, ô ma belle!

L'amour, au clair soleil d'été,
  Avec l'alouette a chanté.

Adieu les daims, adieu les lièvres  
Et les rouges perdrix! Je veux
  Baiser le lin de tes cheveux,  
Presser la pourpre de tes lèvres!

L'amour, au clair soleil d'été,
  Avec l'alouette a chanté.
  ____________________  
Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle (1818 - 1894), "La fille aux cheveux de lin", from Poèmes antiques, in 'Chansons écossaises'
illustration: Monet - Monet - 'Woman with a Parasol, facing right', 1886, Musée D'Orsay, Paris

Claude Debussy - Prelude in G flat major - no. 8 from Book 1: 'La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin'

Kreisler-Rachmaninoff: Liebesleid played by Rachmaninoff 1923, on Ampico piano roll 62103. which scanned and converted into a digital form by Terry Smythe et al,, and audio-recorded (by permission)in 2015 by VViljanen, and the rec. updated 19 May 2017 from the digitized copy of the original reproducing piano roll.
ANY KIND OF COMMERCIAL USE PROHIBITED.
Photo: Sergei Rachmaninoff 1873-1943
Info* of the original roll:
LIEBESLIED (LOVE'S SORROW) "alternating roll with silent sections Weiner Tanzweisen" (Old Viennese Dance Melodies) No. 2
Roll Number: 62103, 62103H
Composer/Creator: Kreisler, Rachmaninoff
Pianist: Rachmaninoff
Roll System: Ampico
Country: US
Date: June, 1923
Category: classical, popular
Original Price: $2.00
* source: from The Piano Player Group web page (by permission)

Kreisler-Rachmaninoff: Liebesleid. Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1923, on Ampico 62103

Another Musescore string quartet of my original track When will I know

When will I know(strings)

Marche Slave, Op. 31 by Tchaikovsky performed at the July 21st concert to benefit the Sean Hanna Foundation

Marche Slave, Op. 31 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Spilville is a small town in Iowa. It was there, between 8 and 23 June 1893, that Dvořák composed his most famous chamber work, the String Quartet in F major (the "American").
Dvořák expressed his nostalgia in the great works he composed from 1892 to 1895, including the String Quintet Op.97.

Buy on Quobuz

Dvořák, String Quartet No.12 in F major "American" Op.96 - Allegro ma non troppo

Franz Liszt-Liebestraum No. 3 in A-Flat Major

Ludwig Van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 (Sonata Pathétique) III. Rondo: Allegro

I produced this track using midi and EW Gold Pianos in order to perfection the performance as I imagine it.

Franz Liszt - Liebestraum - Love Dream

Creativity is not something that can be turned on and off like a tap . . . 
Art is a labour of love, a question of patience and concentration. To place demands on it, criteria, quotas, damages it, slowly kills it. Art, like nature, must be allowed to develop and to grow, in order to attain plenitude. Following this principle, La Dolce Volta prefers to privilege quality over quantity. Releases are limited to ten albums a year, but each of them is the fruit of in-depth work, and above all a special relationship between the soloist and the composer. The artists’ virtuosity is coupled with their ineffable and highly personal approach, a feeling that can only be expressed through music. 
And since jewels worthy of the name can only be offered in special cases, the albums La Dolce Volta releases are themselves works of art: each record cover is an original work of art; the digipack’s inner sleeve includes a booklet in four languages and an interview with the musician. A bandeau is wrapped around each album, on which is printed the name of the soloist, the name of the composer, and the work performed. 
For La Dolce Volta, music is not just a shrink-wrapped object for sale. Like all beautiful things in life, it must come to fruition naturally, the result of careful craftsmanship, and offered like an exquisite flower. 
For La Dolce Volta music is a question of elegance and beauty without concessions.

Dvořák, String Quartet No.12 in F major "American" Op.96 - Allegro ma non troppo

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