Today, 100 years ago Claude Debussy was still alive.... Tomorrow marks the 100th anniversary of his death. I'll be hearing La Mer with François-Xavier Roth and the LSO at the Barbican, (Please read my review HERE) exploring Debussy's legacy. Boulez ! Stravinsky ! Ravel ! Messiaen ! and more.... Please see my other posts so far on Roth's Debussy series Young Debussy, Essential Debussy and Eclectic Gamelan Debussy. . Beware music histories which think modern music started only with Schoenberg and his devilish ways. All music is modern in its own time, and Debussy perhaps even more revolutionary in his way than most. Even after all this time, some still can't get Pelléas et Mélisande. But that's OK. That made it easier to grab good seats at Glyndebourne this season. It will be intriguing to see what master symbolist Stefan Herheim does with it. Below, Claude Debussy plays Clair de Lune, recorded very early on.
A different "take" than what we usually hear in Clair de Lune, and frankly, I like it a lot. Instead of making the whole piece a delicate china doll, he builds and builds, then drops off at the end. This is what I've always felt it SHOULD sound like, and nobody plays it like this. Except Debussy himself. As to composers being "modern" in their own times, if you listen to Chopin, he was using chords and harmonies never heard before his time, and rhythms not usually associated with either Classical OR Romantic period music. One of my professors while I was studying for my masters' in music, said "If Chopin hadn't composed the way he did, music today would probably be drastically different."The same can be said for Debussy, and very few others. Thank you, Claude, and Frederic, for your music!
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