大象传媒

Donald Macleod explores Debussy's life as he approaches his thirties, a challenging period both personally and musically. Today, Debussy picks up the threads of his life in Paris after an obligatory two-year stay in Rome as a prizewinner of the Prix de Rome competition.

One of the 20th century's most original minds, the French composer Claude Debussy has had a profound influence on the course of music. Born in 1862, his precocious talent gained him admittance to the prestigious Paris Conservatoire as a ten-year-old, one of the youngest pupils in the piano class. There were soon indications of his independence of mind. His student years are littered with reports which, while recognising his gifts also found him to be careless and scatterbrained. Debussy found it difficult to focus on his lessons because he felt frustrated with the rules of composition he was told to follow. He wanted to express himself differently, and if he broke the rules to achieve that, well, in his view, so be it.

This week Donald Macleod begins his stories at the point in Debussy's life where, the young man has dispensed with institutional restrictions. He was free to choose his own path. No more rules, no more regulations. There were still some practical considerations he would have to factor in to his plans. Having fulfilled, for the main, the requirements of the Prix de Rome, he needed to make a professional name for himself, and most urgently, earn some money! All in all, it would prove to be a difficult decade.

In 1893 Paris's musical circles were treated to an example of Debussy's originality through a commission from St茅phane Mallarm茅. It resulted in one of the defining works of the twentieth century, Debussy's ground-breaking sensual orchestral evocation of the thoughts of a faun languishing on a hot afternoon..

Deux Arabesques
Simon Trp膷eski, piano

Ineffable silence
Donna Brown, soprano
St茅phane Lemalin, piano

La damoiselle 茅lue: Introduction
脡lue s'appuyait
London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Claudio Abbado, conductor

String quartet in G minor, op 10
1st movement Anim茅 et tr猫s d茅cid茅
Eb猫ne Quartet

Rodrigue et Chim猫ne, arr. Edison Denisov & Richard Langham Smith
Excerpt from Act 1
Rien encore, mon fr猫re
Vous enfin!
Mais non, je n'en crois rien
脌 ta beaut茅 ma force est asservie
Comme la vague
Orchestre de l'Op茅ra de Lyon,
Choeur de l'Op茅ra de Lyon
Kent Nagano, conductor

Pr茅lude 脿 l鈥檃pr猫s-midi d鈥檜n faune
Sinfonia of London
Adam Walker, flute
John Wilson, conductor

Producer: Johannah Smith