Claude Debussy: Best of the Best

Best of the Best ·     Chamber ·     Orchestral ·     Solo

Debussy (1862-1918) is arguably the most visual and literary of composers. His music is the aural equivalent of the works of Impressionists such as Manet and Mallarmé. And like them, under the deceptive pastel shadings, Debussy explores arresting new tonalities and levitating harmonies. Here are his essential recordings.

	Debussy: Images, etc / Boulez, Cleveland Orchestra
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Amazon.com essential recording Pierre Boulez recorded all of Debussy's major orchestral works for Sony, and those generally excellent performances are still available at mid-price. Like so many conductors Boulez has mellowed somewhat with age--and unlike most conductors, he is the first to admit it. His earlier performances were characterized by an analytical clarity that some found fascinating and uniquely compelling, and which left others cold. These new versions preserve the precision of his earlier ones, but find room for...Read more
	Debussy: Clair de Lune, etc / Philippe Entremont
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Amazon.com essential recording Philippe Entremont was really taken for granted as a pianist, both in the U.S. and in his native France. A favorite with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and a staple pianist of the 1960s Columbia catalogue, Entremont displayed many of the finer points of the French school: precision, proportion, tight rhythm, and a colorful touch. This Debussy collection, a real bargain at budget price, features all of his strengths, in music which belongs in every piano-music collection. His...Read more
	Debussy: Pelleas & Melisande / Desormiere, Joachim, et al
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Amazon.com essential recording Even seasoned operaphiles may not have heard of anybody on this recording. Made in wartime France, this first, complete Pelléas et Mélisande captures brief, shining moments among performers whose postwar careers were limited (conductor Roger Desormière, for one, had a stroke in the early 1950s). Yet anyone who loves the opera must have this recording, which has an unmistakable radiance. Heard in sound quality remarkably good for the 1950s, these performers--including...Read more
	Debussy: The Complete Works for Piano / Walter Gieseking
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Amazon.com essential recording These classic performances belong in the collection of anyone who cares about Debussy's piano music. Walter Gieseking's career was a troubled one--his pandering to the Nazi party cast a shadow over his last years, but the greatest irony of all was that this German nationalist turned out to be the greatest exponent of French music of his era. His Debussy playing marries an effortlessly subtle control of the keyboard to a real sense of fantasy. The music truly shimmers in his hands, and despite...Read more