On 10 September Brett Dean conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in Colin Matthews’ orchestration of La cathédrale engloutie from Debussy’s piano Préludes, as part of Musikfest Berlin, with the programme repeated on 11 and 12 September at the Philharmonie.
The 7-minute piece depicts the legend of the sunken cathedral of the island of Ys, which rises from the sea once a year and from which drifts the sounds of bells and chanting priests. Matthews’ orchestration draws on a panoply of chiming sonorities – tubular bells, celesta, bell plates, crotales, gongs, and two harps, set against shimmering, slow moving chords in the strings, which stir into life as the submerged edifice appears from the waves. Matthews describes his approach to orchestrating Debussy in an interview here.
The Hallé and Mark Elder, who commissioned the orchestrations of the Préludes during Matthews’ nine-year stint as Composer-in-Association, recorded them in 2010. La cathédrale engloutie has proven an especially popular orchestration from the set, performed over 80 times since its 2007 debut by ensembles including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the MDR Sinfonieorchester and the BBC Philharmonic.
On 22 November the Hallé will premiere Matthews’ orchestration of three Ravel songs at the Bridgewater Hall, conducted by Nicholas Collon. Matthews wrote Songs without Words to celebrate the 80th birthday of his brother David; the 6 ½-minute set reworks Les grands vents venus d'outre-mer (‘The great winds coming from overseas’) composed in 1906 to a poem by Henri de Régnier, Rêves (‘Dreams’) composed in 1927 to a text by Léon-Paul Fargues, and Noel des jouets (‘The toys’ Christmas’) composed to Ravel’s own words in 1905.
Matthews has also created orchestral versions of the Debussy’s Images for piano, recorded by the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg and Gustavo Gimeno, as well as Elder and the Hallé. His orchestration of the second book premiered with Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra at the 2025 Aldeburgh Festival. In 2009 five of the Préludes were choreographed for the Royal Ballet by Alastair Marriott in Sensorium - a limpid neoclassical ballet celebrating one hundred years since the foundation of Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes.
Matthews’ catalogue of orchestrations includes the surviving movement from Debussy’s early Symphony in B minor, two pieces from Ravel’s Miroirs, and Mahler’s Piano Quartet movement ‘Nicht zu Schnell’. He has also created orchestrations of songs by Gabriel Fauré for soprano and small orchestra, and a 12-minute collection of songs from across Sibelius’ career for Hannu Lintu and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.