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 éléphants), in others they are piano reductions of orchestral scores
(like Fêtes 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
première 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

Song List:

El Colibri

El Faro

Gratitud

Cancion De Cuna

ISBN 9781513455099. 8.75 x 11.75 inches.

LES REFLETS DE L'OBSCURITE is an original collection of four pieces for solo guitar, ranging from intermediate to advanced skill and of a total duration of approximately fifteen minutes. Secrets dune ombre, Ecume orange, Parfums declipse and Sables stellaires tell the story of a journey in a suspended and colorful universe, projecting the listener into a soundscape of many horizons. The combination of traditional music writing and an impressionistic language allows the musician expressive freedom, while guiding them in the interpretation of their playing. This collection was performed and recorded by Johan Smith, winner of the renowned GFA guitar contest (37th Guitar Foundation of America, Rose Augustine Grand Prize 2019). LES REFLETS DE LOBSCURITE est un recueil original de quatre pieces pour guitare seule, de niveau intermediaire a avance et dune duree totale denviron quinze minutes. Secrets dune ombre, Ecume orange, Parfums declipse et Sables stellaires racontent ainsi une progression dans un univers suspendu et colore, vous projetant dans un paysage sonore aux horizons multiples. Lecriture traditionnelle liee a un langage impressionniste permet une liberte expressive au musicien, tout en le guidant dans linterpretation de son jeu. Ce recueil est interprete et enregistre par Johan Smith, laureat du celebre concours de guitare GFA (37th Guitar Foundation of America, Rose Augustine Grand Prize 2019).