Claude Debussy composed his Six Épigraphes Antiques for piano duet, but despite their wealth of impressionistic orchestral colours he never orchestrated them himself. With this new orchestration, Andreas Luca Beraldo has created a worthy alternative to the popular orchestral version made by Ernest Ansermet in 1939.

Beraldo’s new orchestration was made as part of his course at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Mannheim and was for a master class on his conducting course in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in autumn 2013. The premiere on 1 November 2013 was extremely enthusiastically received.

Beraldo’s orchestration is not a re-working of Ansermet’s version. It is completely independent and embodies the spirit of a contemporary orchestration. The orchestral writing is always transparent and rich in shimmering colours. His approach to the wind instruments creates a light, translucent sound. The strongly coloured entry of the harps and percussion lends a transparent and illuminating light to Debussy’s work, whilst Ansermet’s version favoured a historic dark and muted orchestral sound.

Andreas Luca Beraldo is a conductor, and is currently studying choral and orchestral conducting, orchestration and arranging with Andreas N. Tarkmann in Mannheim.

Jeanne Lefèvre
(from [t]akte 1/2015 –translation: Elizabrth Robinson)