Debussy – Arabesque No. 1 (as interpreted by Tomita)

Weekend Music

I give you permission to laugh at me for this one. I can't really defend it artistically, though I won't apologize for liking the first thirty or forty seconds. Let me explain why I like it so much:

Somewhere back in the 1980s, when our children were small, my wife and I discovered Dr. Who, which was broadcast (yes, the old-fashioned way, through the atmosphere) on Saturday nights by Alabama Public Television. It was the Tom Baker period. We were hooked from the first notes of the theme music (well, at least I was). We never have been the sort of people who go out much, and that was especially true when we had young children. So watching Dr. Who on Saturday nights, after the children were in bed, became our big entertainment treat of the week (and if you think that's sad, you need to learn more appreciation for life's little pleasures).

Immediately after Dr. Who came a show called Star Hustler, a brief talk about the astronomical events of the week by a fellow named Jack Horkheimer. It was a perfect somewhat cheesy, somewhat weird dessert to follow the somewhat cheesy, somewhat weird Dr. Who. This Debussy/Tomita piece was the theme music. For years I wondered what it was, but it was only fairly recently that I found out, thanks to the Internet. Hearing the first notes of it takes me right back to those Saturday nights.


 

And here is an episode of Star Hustler. It's worth sitting through the whole thing to hear his "Keep looking up!" sign-off. And isn't that set great?


 

13 responses to “Debussy – Arabesque No. 1 (as interpreted by Tomita)”

  1. I think the picture on the album cover is supposed to be Debussy, though it looks to me like Mr. Spock.

  2. Janet

    We used to listen to that album all the time.
    AMDG

  3. I see it came out in 1974 and now I’m wondering how I missed it. I had Switched-on Bach, but that was more like 1968 or so. I vaguely remember the name Tomita but I don’t think I ever heard anything by him.
    One thing I like about this is the weirdly retro feel. Maybe it’s just me but it sounds older than the ’70s, almost ’50s-ish, although there was no music like this in the ’50s.

  4. Louise

    So watching Dr. Who on Saturday nights, after the children were in bed, became our big entertainment treat of the week
    That’s perfectly comprehensible. I loved Dr Who as a kid but we were really spoilt here in Oz b/c it was on every week night!

  5. It wouldn’t have been as special if it had been available every night. I have to confess that we did get tired of it in time. The show tended to recycle the same basic plot over and over: the Doctor & friend land on a planet where the inhabitants practice a stupid and/or evil religion, and the Doctor explodes it with Science.
    Janet, I never would have thought that piece could sound so weird.

  6. Janet

    That picture does indeed look like Mr. Spock and not at all like someone who could write The Snowflakes are Dancing or The Golliwog’s Picnic.
    AMDG

  7. There’s so much to like about this post!!! That rendition of the Debussy is awesome and sometimes comical in the way of some of those very early forays into electronic music. And the clip of Star Hustler actually takes me back a little bit too. I love his enthusiasm, and I love the fact that he walks down the rings. Gotta love the outfit, too.
    I searched “Debussy images” — apparently it is a young & rather Spock-like Debussy:
    http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/9876/Claude-Debussy-painting-by-Marcel-Baschet-1884-in-the-Versailles
    Hopefully you all can see that.

  8. Glad you liked it! Yes, that must be the Debussy image they started with. I had also done a hasty image search but the ones that turned up first were apparently of a considerably older Debussy and the Spockness was not nearly as noticeable.
    One thing that I liked about this music on first hearing was an odd retro sort of quality that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I don’t mean retro to the ’70s but to the ’50s or so. I finally realized it was that whistling tone–I can’t name any but I think there were some old movie or tv themes back then that involved whistling.

  9. Janet

    Lassie

  10. Yes. And I have this idea that there was some western and/or mystery. Could be just pop songs of some kind I’m vaguely remembering, though.

  11. Wow, that takes me back.

  12. What, you mean you weren’t asleep?!?

Leave a reply to Will Cancel reply