I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the celebrated pianist Nicolas Horvath for enthusiastically
bringing my Debussy works to public attention in their solo piano formats, both through his recent
recitals across France and through this Naxos Grand Piano release (GP822). In some cases these are
true piano pieces (like Toomai des �l�phants), in others they are piano reductions of orchestral scores
(like F�tes galantes), while in others they are piano solos in their own right that also exist in orchestral
versions (as in the incidental music for Le Roi Lear). Needless to say, most of these tracks are world
premi�re recordings, and this is certainly true of A Night in the House of Usher and its companion piece Un Jour affreux avec Le Diable dans le beffroi (?A Dreadful Day with the Devil in the Belfry?) which I arranged specially for Nicolas in November 2018 as a virtuosic, almost Lisztian paraphrase-fantasy. To remind us of the plot as the dramatic scenes unfold, Un Jour affreux avec le Diable dans le beffroi, like the start of No-ja-li) has a narrator (spoken in French by Florient Azoulay on the Grand Piano recording):

[After an overture rising from the underworld, with a polka and a citation of a chldren?s folksong Savez vous plantez les choux?, a carillon rings out]: Hearing it, the Dutch villagers start to count, with the bells of the belfry / 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 8, 9, 11, and 12 / Perfect! / 13!?!/ The bell rang 13 times / 13! / The Devil is here where the clock should be! / Damn! / The bells are cracked. / The Devil laughs fit to burst / He pulls from the pocket of his coat, a small dancing master?s violin / ?My God!? says the devil ? and he tunes his violin slowly / The Devil leads the villagers in a fantastic and relentless jig [making jokes at the expense of concertos by Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky] / The Devil directs the villagers towards the canal ? where he jumps to the other side, laughing all the time / The villagers try to imitate him, but they fall into the water. / [In Part 2] the villagers are transported to a hedonistic and lively Italian village. They are similarly transformed: the men have crooked hats ? the women have wide open bodices! They dance a mad Tarantella / 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 13 / shouting ?Hey there! (Hola?) / Jean, the young hero, makes a fervent prayer to God against the Devil / The prayer is answered and the bell again rings normally! / The expression of the Devil changes: he shudders! / Everything goes black / The devil disappears in a brief red glow ? / And the carillon and the bells chime as usual / 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 / Perfect! / But the Devil?s grinning face ap-
pears once again where the clock should be ? briefly

The Belgian violinist, Eugene Ysaye (1858-1931), with his impressive blend of virtuosity and poetry, was a great admirer of the young Debussy's music who led the Paris premiere of his only string quartet in December 1893. In September 1892, Debussy was planning an American tour with the financial support of Prince Andre Poniatowski that was to include his 'nearly completed three Scenes au crepuscule', inspired by the Symbolist poetry of his friend Henri de Regnier. He made 'extensive revisions' to them in 1893, even if all that seems to have survived is a series of sketches in Bibliotheque Nationale de France, MS 20632(2), most of which appear to be for violin and orchestra in E or B major. Another related, and more virtuosic, theme emerged in a Parisian sale in June 2006, which opens the main part of the present Nocturne (after a slow introduction).

We also learn from Ernest Chausson in April 1893 that Debussy was composing a work for Ysaye's first American tour in 1894-95, which at one stage was described as a 'concerto'. Then, as Debussy was putting the finishing touches to L'Apres-midi d'un faune in 1894, he told Ysaye he was now working on 'three Nocturnes for solo violin and orchestra which are destined for you', and which undoubtedly derived from his earlier 'Twilight scenes'. The first was to be 'for strings only'. the second for three flutes, four horns, three trumpets and two harps. the third combines all these instruments'. He also informed Ysaye, perhaps with Whistler's Nocturnes in mind, that they were to be like 'a study in grey in painting'. Debussy only abandoned this project in November 1896 after Ysaye told him he would not be able to premiere the Nocturnes in Brussels 'for financial reasons'.

My completion comes closest to the third Nocturne Debussy planned and to being a rondo with related episodes. The dynamic idea that emerged in 2006, which was scored by Debussy, leads naturally into the 'twilight' theme in B major beginning on solo cello and doublebasses, with the high, haunting three-note idea first heard at the outset floating above on solo violin, exactly as Debussy conceived it. All five of Debussy's themes are harmonized and they vary in length between three and thirteen bars: none of them relate to the orchestral Nocturnes of 1897-99. Rather than develop any of these themes, they are presented in changing harmonic backgrounds in the contemporary manner of L'Apres-midi d'un faune, and the whole work centres on an expansive scalar which joins the various aspects of Debussy's 'twilight' themes together in a new perspective.

The best way to learn any instrument is to have lessons from a good, experienced teacher. Although, happily, the number of such teachers is constantly growing, the recorder is still frequently taught by enthusiastic but inexperienced teachers and many players start by teaching themselves.
This series of books sets out to help learners of all ages in all three situations. Experienced teachers, who may choose to disregard much of the text as personal demonstration is always clearer than the written word, will find exercises and fine tunes a-plenty to support their own method at each stage. The less experienced willbenefit from many valuable teaching hints culled from long experience and may rely on the books to lead to a sound playing technique and a mastery of simple notation.
Those learning by themseves - and I started in this way - are urged to work carefully and systematically through the books, taking plenty of time to assimilate each point before moving on. For them, without the personal model provided by a live teacher, it is vitally important to listen as often as possible to fine players, in person or on record, so that they have in their mind's ear a clear notion of the kind of sound they would like to produce.
But however they start, I can only wish that all who use these books will derive as much pleasure and musical satisfaction and gain as many lasting and valued friendships as I have through this most subtle, delightful and sociable of instruments. (Brian Bonsor)

&ldquo....this work is likely to become a standart work very quickly and is to be recommended to all schools where recorder studies are undertaken&ldquo. (Oliver James, Contact Magazine)

These two tutors, with accompanying teacher's books, are for newcomers to the instrument who are beginning on the treble and so assume no previous knowledge either of the instrument or of musical notation.