VA - Debussy: The Essentials (2016)

A French composer of piano music, opera, cantatas, ballets, and orchestral and chamber works. His most notable pieces are "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun)" (1894) and "Nocturnes" (1899). Inspired often by pictorial subjects (Monet's water impressions became "reflections in the water" for piano) and by the elusive and unnameable in nature (footsteps in the snow, still leaves, and the hypnotic, overwhelming sensations of his rare visits to the French coastline), Debussy's music develops chords, melodies, and orchestration that are connected more by a single surreal observation than by an overriding logic. For example, one note is similar to another in a distantly related, enharmonic chord, but this brief tie is enough to follow, or a single gesture will soon evolve, spreading outward in all directions until a whole orchestral piece is made from a single falling line ("Afternoon of a Faun"; "Jeux"). Not bad for a kid born over his parents' china shop, who loved Lassus and Palestrina as much as ragtime and Javanese music.

Tracklist:
01. Debussy Suite bergamasque, L.75 - 1. Prelude
02. Debussy Suite bergamasque, L.75 - 2. Menuet
03. Debussy Suite bergamasque, L.75 - 3. Clair de lune
04. Debussy Suite bergamasque, L.75 - 4. Passepied
05. Debussy Images - Book 1, L. 110 - 1. Reflets dans l'eau
06. Debussy Images - Book 2, L. 111 - 2. Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut
07. Debussy Preludes Book 1, L.117 - 1. Danseuses de Delphes
08. Debussy Preludes Book 1, L.117 - 2. Voiles
09. Debussy Estampes, L. 100 - 3. Jardins sous la pluie
10. Debussy Children's Corner, L. 113 - 6. Golliwogg's Cakewalk
11. Debussy Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune, L.86
12. Debussy Petite Suite For Piano (4 Hands), L.65 - 1. En bateau
13. Debussy Petite Suite For Piano (4 Hands), L.65 - 2. Cortege
14. Debussy Petite Suite For Piano (4 Hands), L.65 - 3. Menuet
15. Debussy Petite Suite For Piano (4 Hands), L.65 - 4. Ballet
16. Debussy Nocturnes, L.91 - Nuages. Modere
17. Debussy Nocturnes, L.91 - Fetes. Anime et tres rythme
18. Debussy Preludes Book 1, L.117 - 8. La fille aux cheveux de lin
19. Debussy Preludes Book 1, L.117 - 10. La cathedrale engloutie
20. Debussy La Mer, L.109 - 1. De l'aube a midi sur la mer
21. Debussy Images For Orchestra, L. 122 - 1. Gigues
22. Debussy String Quartet In G Minor, Op.10, L. 85 - 1. Anime et tres decide
23. Debussy Sonata In G Minor For Violin & Piano, L. 140 - 1. Allegro vivo
24. Debussy Sonata In D Minor For Cello & Piano, L.135 - 3. Finale (Anime)
25. Debussy Sonata For Flute, Viola And Harp, L. 137 - 2. Interlude