Recording
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
Claude Debussy
- Released
- 1894
- On one list
- Impressionism
- Updated
- 2026-08-30
Analysis
12 sections, the first drop of 5 at 0:30, 5% of the way in, 20% of it spent climbing.
- Tempo
- 123 BPM
- holds throughout
- Dynamic range
- 19.5 dB
- wide open — the quiet parts are genuinely quiet
- Length
- 10:50
- measured from the YouTube master
The record, end to end
Click the track to jump · ← → move between sections
- 0:00Aintrobar -3
- 0:26Abuildbar 10
- 1:37Bliftbar 47
- 1:55Abreakdownbar 56
- 3:20Abuildbar 100
- 3:59Cbuildbar 120
- 4:20Dpeakbar 131
- 4:36Abreakdownbar 138
- 5:33Esteadybar 168
- 6:02Fpeakbar 183
- 6:30Abreakdownbar 197
- 10:07Aoutrobar 308
Drops at 0:30 (bar 12), 1:43 (bar 50), 2:53 (bar 86), 4:12 (bar 126), 5:32 (bar 168). A drop is a moment, not a stretch — marked on the track above rather than shaded across it.
0:00 · A · intro
opens the record below its own average energy · instrumental · one of 7 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:26
- Energy
- 0
- Brightness
- 31
- Density
- 0
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy and brightness climbing without a break · instrumental · one of 7 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 1:11
- Energy
- 16
- Brightness
- 0
- Density
- 39
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
a short rise that does not resolve — a fill or a transition, not a build · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:18
- Energy
- 57
- Brightness
- 48
- Density
- 92
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental · one of 7 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 1:25
- Energy
- 16
- Brightness
- 24
- Density
- 69
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy and brightness climbing without a break · instrumental · one of 7 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:40
- Energy
- 26
- Brightness
- 49
- Density
- 88
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy and brightness climbing without a break · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:21
- Energy
- 70
- Brightness
- 95
- Density
- 100
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:15
- Energy
- 100
- Brightness
- 100
- Density
- 94
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental · one of 7 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:58
- Energy
- 25
- Brightness
- 54
- Density
- 74
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:29
- Energy
- 72
- Brightness
- 78
- Density
- 99
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:29
- Energy
- 90
- Brightness
- 73
- Density
- 93
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental · one of 7 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 3:36
- Energy
- 18
- Brightness
- 46
- Density
- 85
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
the closing fall · instrumental · one of 7 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:43
- Energy
- 1
- Brightness
- 5
- Density
- 0
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
Brightness and density are scored against this record's own sections, not against music in general — they say how its parts differ from each other, and nothing about how it compares to anything else.
- drums
- the drum kit, separated from the mix
- bass
- the bass part, separated from the mix
- vocals
- the voice, separated from the mix
- other
- everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings
Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.
- intro
- opens the record below its own average energy
- build
- energy and brightness climbing without a break
- lift
- a short rise that does not resolve — a fill or a transition, not a build
- breakdown
- energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning
- peak
- sits at the top of this record's range
- steady
- holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling
- outro
- the closing fall
Measured from the YouTube master on . Section labels describe how the energy of the recording moves, not its musical form — a machine can see loudness climb and jump, it cannot hear a chorus arrive. Anything we were not confident enough to state is left out rather than shown with a caveat.
Ranked No. 1 in Impressionism
A flute alone, drifting down a tritone with no key and no pulse to speak of. Boulez said modern music begins here, and for once that kind of claim is easy to defend.