Claire De Lune: Debussy Favorites

undefined

Product Description ------------------- The haunting representation of watery moonlight known as Clair de lune regularly crops up in "classical greatest hits" lists, has been used to advertise everything from chocolate to shampoo, and has even appeared in the The Twilight Saga (CD 1 [1]; the orchestrated version is on CD 2 [1]). It's an undeniable masterpiece of musical painting, but Claude-Achille Debussy was far more than a one-hit wonder. His ballet Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (CD 1 [3]) pulses with sensuous eroticism. His tone poem La Mer (CD 2 [12-14]) evokes the changing moods of the sea with awe-inspiring accuracy. And all learner pianists thrive on the simple-but-challenging works in Children's Corner (CD 2 [3-5]), written for his young daughter. It is not always the e of innovators to be popularly accled during their lifetimes, but Debussy had both critical and public success. His innovations included the incorporation of non-western sounds into his music, after a particularly inspirational visit to a Javanese gamelan exhibition in 1889. He also explored mood-painting, atonalism, and even jazz, and his ideas were taken up and developed by composers as diverse as Stravinsky, Britten, Duke Ellington and John Williams. But listen to the relatively late piano piece La Terrasse des audiences du clair de lune of 1913 (CD 2 [2]) to hear how he always tempered his experiments with a common, instantly accessible touch. About the Artist ---------------- The son of a shopkeeper and a seamstress, his musical gifts were early acknowledged by wealthy patrons who supported his studies. He was possessed of an independent, even pugnacious, spirit, but early works (such as Petite Suite of 1889 (CD 1 [8-11) and the string quartet of 1893 (CD 2 [7]) nevertheless show him under the influence of French music of the era. Compare these with the bolder sounds of Danse sacrée et danse profane of 1904 (CD 2 [9-10]), or even the Nocturnes of 1899 (CD 1 [12-14]) to appreciate the new paths he was to take later. Debussy carried on experimenting, right until his untimely death from cancer in 1918. What new sounds might he have created, had he been spared? It's one of music's great what ifs. But it doesn't prevent us enjoying the masterpieces he left behind.