Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Les Cloches

Alexander Verster
Alexander Verster
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Published 2019-10-18
Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Les Cloches
from Deux Romances L79 (1891)

Performed in standard double bass orchestral tuning.

Score and recording available free of charge here: alexanderverster.com/

Alexander Verster - Double Bass
John Reddihough - Piano

Recorded July 2019
Blackheath Halls, London
Video and skin tone restoration by John Reddihough


Les feuilles s’ouvraient sur le bord des branches,
Délicatement.
Les cloches tintaient, légères et franches,
Dans le ciel clément.

Rythmique et fervent comme une antienne,
Ce lointain appel
Me remémorait la blancheur chrétienne
Des fleurs de l’autel.

Ces cloches parlaient d’heureuses années,
Et, dans le grand bois,
Semblaient reverdir les feuilles fanées
Des jours d’autrefois.


The leaves opened along the branches
delicately.
The bells sounded, light and free,
in the mild sky.

Rhythmic and fervent as an antiphon,
This distant call
Reminded me of Christian whiteness
Flowers of the altar.

Those bells spoke of happy years,
And, in the great wood,
Seemed to revive faded leaves
From days of old.

Paul Bourget (1852-1935)
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