September 28, 2005 Debussy Piano Music (BBC Music Guides), Frank Dawes (1969)

For those who have joined us recently, a bit of recap: A few years ago, when Benzene 4 was fairly active, one of the things I liked to do was make note of every book I read. Then the blog fell into desuetude for about a year. After its revival last fall, my primary mission has been to maintain the books-I've-read tradition, and I've been working through the backlog ever since.

Like almost everything I write, the book reports tend run long, even when I don't think I have anything to say. But this one really will be (relatively) short.

I read Debussy Piano Music almost by accident. I bought it as a quick reference book more than as something to actually read cover to cover. Ericka and I had been to one of those library surplus book sales where there's a warehouse full of books and most are a dollar or less. We ran several errands that day. I forget exactly why, but at some point late in the day I ended up waiting in the car for something. The books we had bought were piled up with a bunch of other stuff in the back of the car, not very accessible. This little Debussy book was the first one I found within easy reach. (I think I was actually in the front seat reaching around behind.) So I started reading it. Once I had started I kept going, and I finished it a few days later. It's a short book, only about 60 pages.

Of the piano pieces discussed, I was familiar with about half of them — the ones that are in a book of Debussy sheet music that I have (and often play from). All the while I was reading, I kept thinking I ought to have the music in front of me to better appreciate the discussion, but for some reason I never did. (I think maybe I had left the music book at my sister's house.) Some day maybe I'll read it again and study more carefully. It is a study guide, after all.

The only other thing I recall about this book is the typeface. Its italic is distinctive in a few ways. For one thing, the capital letters aren't tilted quite as much as the lowercase, which I find a little strange. The other is that the lowercase z has a curvy lower hook that descends well below the baseline, and the lowercase x is stretched out unusually wide.

I've seen all of those before, but it never struck me so much as in this book, with all those italicized French words with plenty of x's and z's. The x was particularly jarring. The rest of the lowercase italic is pretty tight, so when there's an x mixed in it makes for an abrupt change in density.

I ought to remember which font this is. (I'm sure my font-geek friends would know immediately.) I know it's one of the standard serif book faces. I think maybe it's a Garamond. If so, it's not the same Garamond that I have on my system here.

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