Contrapunctus

Compare performersClaude Debussy

La cathédrale engloutie: Meyer and Ilić

La cathédrale engloutie, Préludes I, No. 10

Meyer and Ilić, recorded in Paris fifty years apart, play the bell-like fifths and the organ-like C major chords.

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Recordings in
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1956Reference recording

Marcelle Meyer

Meyer, a pupil of Cortot and Viñes, plays the C major chords with a full piano tone and carefully judged pedalling.

5:39
2006Performance 02

Ivan Ilić

Ilić’s Paris recording plays the chords with firm edges and uses flexible rhythm through the changes of pace.

5:24
Selected recordingMarcelle Meyer, 1956
0:00 / 5:39

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The comparison

The piece opens with bare fifths in the manner of bells. The piano then imitates an organ, with C major chords spread across the keyboard, before the music returns to a quiet echo. Marcelle Meyer and Ivan Ilić recorded La cathédrale engloutie in Paris, fifty years apart.

Tempo

Tempo map

Time taken compared with Marcelle Meyer, 1956: above 1×, the performer takes longer over the same music; below it, less time.

Time taken compared with the reference recordingEach gold line follows a performer. Above 1×, the recording takes longer over the same music. Numbered lines mark the passages below.0.25×0.5×0.75×1×1.25×1.5×0:001:002:003:004:005:001. Opening fifths · 0:0012. Triplets beneath rising chords · 1:1423. Melody in C major chords · 2:0034. Return of the melody, pianissimo · 4:384Marcelle Meyer, 1956 (reference)Ivan Ilić, 2006
The reference recording’s clock runs left to right. Each line is smoothed over about eight seconds; pauses can create peaks. Numbers mark the passages below.
  • Marcelle Meyer, 1956 · reference
  • Ivan Ilić, 2006
Passages

Passages compared

Each version plays in card order, for up to 12 seconds of reference music or until the next marked passage, whichever comes first.

  1. 01

    Opening fifths

    0:00 in the reference

    Bare Gs and Ds are played quietly. Rising fifths leave wide spaces between the notes.

  2. 02

    Triplets beneath rising chords

    1:14 in the reference

    Triplets enter beneath the rising chords, and the piano grows louder.

  3. 03

    Melody in C major chords

    2:00 in the reference

    The organ-like tune is set in full C major chords. Their top notes carry the melody above a deep bass.

  4. 04

    Return of the melody, pianissimo

    4:38 in the reference

    The chordal tune returns lower and pianissimo, over a moving bass. Debussy marks it as an echo of the earlier phrase.

Durations

Length of each recording

  1. Marcelle Meyer, 19565:39
  2. Ivan Ilić, 20065:24

These times include the lead-in and final fade. Cuts, repeats and disc-side breaks also affect a recording’s length.

Performers and sessions

Recording notes

Sources & method

Further reading

How the recordings are matched

The matching follows sequences of pitches, using a method called dynamic time warping. Every recording is mapped to the reference, so switching between two versions goes through that shared clock. Where several reference times match one point, the middle time is used.

  • Ivan Ilić, 2006: match score 0.966. Matched passages available.

Switching stays within the matched span, and trimmed recordings keep their original clock times. Match scores describe similarity in the sound.