Music Banter - Claude Debussy

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It seems Claude Debussy doesn't have a thread yet. I'll let Wikipedia do the basic introductions :

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Claude-Achille Debussy (French: [klod aʃil dəbysi]; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music, though he himself disliked the term when applied to his compositions. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in his native France in 1903. Debussy was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his use of non-traditional scales and chromaticism influenced many composers who followed.

Debussy's music is noted for its sensory content and frequent usage of atonality. The prominent French literary style of his period was known as Symbolism, and this movement directly inspired Debussy both as a composer and as an active cultural participant.

Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Debussy

As is generally the case with classical composers, for fans it becomes a matter of finding the best interpretations and recordings of his work (and in the case of Debussy, there are actually recordings of Debussy himself playing).

Anyways, what are your favorite Debussy compositions? Do you have any favorite recordings?

I was searching for good recordings of Arabesque No. 1 and Claire De Lune and was very pleased when I found a Toronto based pianist who play both wonderfully (imo). Check out Mr. Ricker Choi :)

Clair De Lune

Arabesque No. 1

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore (Post 1632563)

I was searching for good recordings of Arabesque No. 1 and Claire De Lune and was very pleased when I found a Toronto based pianist who play both wonderfully (imo). Check out Mr. Ricker Choi :)

Yes, Mr. Ricker Choi plays those Debussy pieces with great delicacy and warmth! I especially like his Clair de Lune.

I feel the Berlin Philharmonic's performance of Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of the Faun is terrific, but you can only hear the first 2 minutes for free. The first 2 minutes sound great, though!

Love, love, love Debussy (although I love Ravel even more, but that's another discussion). Clair de Lune is my favourite, and in fact I've been working on it for a few days now.

Ahh wonderful, Erica :D

I was able to find a recording by Berlin Philharmonic on Google Play Music and it sounds wonderful. Such a great piece of music!

Pet Sounds, sounds very ambitious :) Do you have a piano lying around?

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore (Post 1632804)

Pet Sounds, sounds very ambitious :) Do you have a piano lying around?

Yes. In fact, I have three. I've been playing for over ten years, but it's still a very challenging piece.

Ah yes, one of the fathers of Modern music. Love love love the impressionist stuff, La Cathedrale Engloutie, Reflets dans l'eau. Fascinating musician

I aboslutely love Debussy's music. His style overall is just so pleasant and enjoyable for me to listen to. I can currently play Clair de lune and Arabesque No. 1. They each took me about a month to learn :) Both fantastic pieces!

Clair De Lune Is just amazing! One of my favorite pieces of all time!

May I suggest trying out Debussy's solo piano work - it's PFG (Pretty Freakin' Good). I'd link in some examples, but I'm not at the 15 post minimum yet. Though if you look up Noriko Ogawa Debussy in youtube, you should come up with some hits, including Claire de Lune. I love the way she plays Debussy, as she seems to have the "hammerless" technique he wanted down pat. There's also a cheap mp3 version of most of Ogawa's intepretations of Debussy's music on amazon.

He's definitely a second-tier composer IMO but that's not such a terrible thing.