"We went out in the streets and felt the same atmosphere as in the music"

I love the piece Ibéria by Claude Debussy. Like no one else, he manages to evoke emotions and impressions. He paints a vivid picture of life in a Spanish village: the streets and parks, the scents in the warm night, and then the morning preparations for a celebration. You can hear tambourines, timpani, and castanets. The three scenes flow seamlessly into one another.

I played Ibéria with a youth orchestra on tour in Alicante and Madrid. Afterwards, we went out in the streets and felt the same exciting atmosphere as in the music.

Debussy really pushed his boundaries when he wrote about Spain, as he had hardly been there! But even his Spanish colleagues said that he truly “nailed it”. At the beginning of the 20th century, more and more people became curious about orchestral music from Spain. It was no longer just Germany and France that were in the spotlight.

As a Belgian musician, Debussy is important to me, as Belgium is heavily influenced by French culture. I enjoy looking at paintings by the Impressionists in art museums while listening to Ibéria at the same time. It enhances the experience.

Arno Tri Pramudia
Trombone, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

In the video Arno plays Song to the Moon by Antonín Dvořák from the opera Rusalka.