Debussy has become like an old friend to me. He lets me listen to his intimate secrets.

00:01 I. Nuages ("Clouds") 07:28 II. Fêtes ("Festivals") 13:44 III. Sirènes ("Sirens")

When I was in high school, around 1963-64, the Philadelphia Symphony under the baton of Eugene Ormandy came to Youngstown, Ohio to perform a concert. We lived in Alliance, Ohio which was about forty miles away. Our orchestra conductor organized a field trip for us to go. Now, after nearly 60 years that program of Debussy's Nocturnes and Beethoven's 7th Symphony among other pieces and a love of classical music abides with me and always will.

This is my therapy, this is where I go where I come to clear my mind, to find inspiration, to feel at peace ... this is my sanctuary .... I wish I knew someone who shares the same love I have for classic music...

So beautiful. Debussy's music is always such a fairytale. It's these things that remind you there are still pretty things out there when you're in a bad mood

I always find the best of Debussy's musical output to be deeply impressionistic. He very much coincided with that artistic period and I think it's no accident that his music also reflects it. He takes you deep into your emotional psyche and lets you marinate in it for as long as the music lasts.

There are some composers whose music leaves one feeling enriched or somehow a better person for having heard it. Claude Debussy is one of those composers.

thank God for Ad Block. it would be a shame to ruin this or other works of art because of commercials. Debussy was a wonderful composer not meant to have useless commercials interjected into it

That escalation in 11:00 to 12:00 in Fetes is wonderful.

I am a Japanese Debussyiest. To Debussy , the great composer . What a lot of Japanese people admire you and sing the song ！ People with the spirit of impressing your work are filled everywhere in Japan . Luscious and fascinating performance and work .

Debussy sent 20th century music on its way. Sensuous, lush and sublimely gorgeous. An entirely new 'branch' of classical music flowed through and from him. Pure genius.

I love this music. There are times when my spirit needs the sea.

Debussy was a prodigy who kind of "grew up at the Paris Conservatory." He gained recognition as an innovator and something of a rebel -- but it was all based on the magnificent craft he acquired early on. He could sight-read anything.

Nuages 0:00 Fêtes 7:28 Sirènes 13:44

The impressionists were so much our precursors: they wanted their art to keep their mind busy and gratified for ages, a bit like us with instant access and gratification to everything

Those Sirens are haunting...

I am happy to pay $10 a month for the privilege of hearing thousands of great classical, jazz, blues, and rock recordings and other material without commercial interruptions. I am not a fan of big corporations but surely they are providing something of value and deserve to be compensated.

This piece sounds like sea-themed Daphnis et Chloe, I love it.

From a musicologist's perspective Debussy's music is what bridges the classical era and the modern era. He's essentially the Christopher Columbus of music. The piece that links the old world and the new world.

Since childhood, 'Nuages' has given me goosebumps...only Eric Satie does the same. I love alot of Classical music, but these 2 geniuses cannot be touched.

These are some of the most beautiful orchestral pieces ever composed, imo. I think the nocturne is probably my favorite genre, and Debussy's play with colors and the different shades of orchestral sound are just gorgeous.

Bernard Herrmann based the entire score to The Ghost and Mrs Muir on this piece and I am so glad he did. The final scene is moving beyond words

What would the world be without the magical and fairytale music of Debussy? ❤ Again and again poignant.

A total mood selector. Goes from melancholy to quiet joy and pulls your emotions into every note. Excellent.

Hauntingly beautiful - sensual, like Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.

Nuages may be my favorite work of all time. I love it deeply!...

La beauté à l'état pur.

Absolument brillant. Si réel, si vivant, si vivant!

It is holy, sends me to this place that i feel i have been for all eternity !

Ceci est plus que le reflet d'une époque. C'est un astéroïde fantôme qui revient jeter son dévolu sur l'art sonore. Une onde décadente chargée de paradoxes d'où s'échappent l'obscurantisme et l'irrationnel, facteurs hypnotiques défiant les âmes vulnérables en quête d'absolu. Cette architecture sonore est un court tunnel qui mène à la lumière 👀

His music was so ahead of its time. There are moments while listening to this that I feel like I am listening to a score from a modern day film.

Whenever I hear Bach, I hear logic, symmetry and glorious architectural beauty and sometimes playfulness. With debussy, I genuinely 'forget myself'. Almost like an aesthetically-induced meditation, or as a friend says 'I got lost in the music', or as Joyce called it 'aesthetic arrest' (sorry for the reference, it can be found in Portrait of Artist which I am reading now or just google it, its interesting). No thoughts! Nothing but the music and its 'impression' merging with and becoming my experience. Oddly enough, this has also happened to me with Bach. Anyway, I especially recall the unique mood evoked by the piano piece 'les sons et parfum tournent dans l'air du soir' listened with the soft bustle of the evening city trickling through the window... and also the fact that my worries and anxiety were left behind at a performance of his 'preludes', in which i simply rested one hand on each lap and looked at my shoes for the duration of the performance, paralyzed by the beauty in the subtlest of ways (unlike beethoven's beauty which sometimes is a bit too scary or unearthly, a sort of 'sublime' beauty. He cried over his own cavatina, for gods sake!). To understand what I am saying, listen to 'voiles' or 'brouillards'. At first they sound scary/creepy*, but eventually they unfold before you for what they are; yes, they are something more subdued, not the lurid colors of painted houses by a verdant beach, sunbaked in the heat. But they are not, like I initially thought, intended to scare... once you embrace them, the unease vanishes and the beauty descends like a downy quilt. The melancholy of ship sails dithering on the horizon, behind a thin veil of scintillating air and sinking under that blue blanket, irradiated by a heatless sun... or the afternoon curtains dancing from the wind's gentle woos. These are my subjective impressions, and they may vary from person to person; Debussy, in my mind, must have aimed for ambiguity, mimicking the way nature (or indeed, the decandent poets) plays with us... when certain things become less clear as the sun descends and the shadows begin playing.... or what happens when you realize something scary was only a product of marijuana-induced psychosis...a play of perception! Not at all frightening (well, maybe the brouillards should be a bit frightening!). The feeling reminds me a bit of pareidolia; the other day, I was looking at the most marvelous sunset, when I laxly glanced at some clouds further away. In my aloofness, they started appearing like a chariot with frenzied horses, and a host of clamouring figures (a bit like the Parthenon's frieze) doing some crazy stuff and shouting at others following on foot, while the back end of the cart was churning out a heavy smoke. Without any effort on my part, these pieces induce the same aloofness that make the mind be so peacefully present and at ease with itself in play... a lot like meditation (or the lazy abandon of sunny noon that the poet Tagore has made me appreciate)! One user (in the preludes video) commented that they want to commit suicide to this music*(I initially thought that because of those... overbearing pieces -- voiles and brouillards --, a solemn mood is induced which depresses you and moves you to those dark corners of the mind). On the other hand, I think he/she meant: it's beautiful enough that it makes one think 'with such beauty, why keep on living (paradoxically)' or 'once Ive listened to this, I can go in peace'... Well? Yes art is a sanctuary, and I too try to put as much of it in my daily life. But I let it surface when it chooses. I do not want to (I try not to) force it, to snuff out my existence in its presence to magnify it, to make it something with a definite purpose, that of ending my life in parallel to the last few bars of music. I dont know why that person said that (edit: in my sober appreciation of art, I say that I do not understand... but in the quiet, solemn spaciousness and prayer of poetic exultation I can fully empathize and say with them 'now more than ever it seems rich to die, to cease upon the midnight with no pain, While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad In such an ecstasy!). But i think it goes against what art is about...to be appreciated and inspire us to go forth and create and affirm our wondrous human nature. Sure we say these things when lost in rapturous poetry, but it is equally important and satisfying to return with newfound strength for having contacted that part of us that modern society so ardently suppresses. Just to end these ramblings, I will quote Rabinranath Tagore, from whom I have learned so much :) "The Upanishads say: “From joy does spring all this creation, by joy is it maintained, towards joy does it progress, and into joy does it enter.” It means that God's creation has not its source in any necessity; it comes from his fullness of joy; it is his love that creates, therefore in creation is his own revealment.” - Rabindranath Tagore explaining a verse of the Upanishads, in his book “Sadhana - The Realisation of Life”

splendidi!! solo debussy sa realizzare queste atmosfere di luce e ombra, di forza e tenerezza, di mistero e di epifania

How can you ruin a masterpiece like this? Well lets put some commercials in the middle of it... ohh wonderful idea. BRILLIANT.

The beautiful melody of this piece is irreplaceable

Saw this performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra Live....awesome..

Debussy didn't realize he could 'paint' such Fabulous Memoirs!! Bravo!!!

la he escuchado millones de veces y siempre tiene algo especial. .......siempre un recuerdo; una detención en algún momento del pasado.

The whole delicate touch of Debussy can be heard in these" nocturnes" which do not use a huge orchestra (but make use of strings extreme division). The tone of feminine voices mixed with the orchestra in the last Nocturn is awesmoe.

so hauntingly beautiful and mysterious at the same time! thanks for sharing.

True talent and gifted by God.

Magnifique...le chemin de la contemplation

I really love these paintings!.....oh,and the music ;D

Je ne connaissais pas cette oeuvre de Debussy ... une belle découverte ! par ailleurs , la transcription pour piano de Ravel est aussi une belle réussite . Merci à vous ...

debussy was and still is the best way ahead of his time.

Thanks so dearly for your perfect connection between Debussy and Whistler. I learned something truly interesting tonight.

Merci d'avoir partagé. La musique est relaxante.

Just so beautiful, reminds me of Vaughan Williams work

killer viola solo at 4:00. LOVE IT!

And then they say that Debussy was bad at orchestration. Note that the section that starts at 9:55 was composed before Ravel's "Boléro", which the latter deemed an exercise in orchestration.

Debussy is honestly the best composer👌❤️

I really appreciated your description of this piece.

To be able to listen to Debussy's works in this era with great performances is bliss itself

Thank you for the helpful and cogent "liner notes" for the beginners in the crowd.

I realize it was almost 3 years ago when this was posted, but I want to thank "Klange" for posting. Excellent selection and very clean. As far as my speakers can render, superb. ~ S ~

I specially love "The Fetes". In my mind, first I see the people arriving and gathering where the event takes place. Then it shows the emotion of anticipation shown by the people. Then the people became silent and from the distance you barely hear steps the marching army band and its music. As they approach the music become more intense. It feels like is the celebration after an important military victory. Among them are the heroes of the people. The ambiance is like in antiquity. Like in the old Greece.

4:30am, the sky looks just like that! Last day of my music degree, I'm up finishing an assignment :)

the best of all time 🙏

This needs timings: I. Nuages ("Clouds"): 0:00 II. Fêtes ("Festivals"): 7:28 III. Sirènes ("Sirens"): 13:43 Peeking at the jewel-cases of some Pierre Boulez recordings (with the timings) I see that he sometimes rushes the first movement so that is only 6 mins, 15 seconds. I guess for this recording, Maestro Boulez was in a more mellow mood. :-)

"Nuages" renders the immutable aspect of the sky and the slow, solemn motion of the clouds, fading away in grey tones lightly tinged with white. - Debussy "Fêtes" gives the vibrating, dancing rhythm of the atmosphere with sudden flashes of light. There is also the episode of the procession (a dazzling fantastic vision), which passes through the festive scene and becomes merged in it. But the background remains resistantly the same: the festival with its blending of music and luminous dust participating in the cosmic rhythm. - Debussy "Sirènes" depicts the sea and its countless rhythms and presently, amongst the waves silvered by the moonlight, is heard the mysterious song of the Sirens as they laugh and pass on. - Debussy

Excellent recording. The Cleveland Orchestra always performs and records wonderfully. Debussy was truly one of the greats.

- Thank you ever so much for such unbelievebale beauty (music, and also paintings) !

I had never heard these nocturnes. The recurring evocation of "Claire de Lune" in the first piece was a pleasant surprise.

une musique decouverte sur radio classique qui ma rappelle les peplum italien et americain et certains films en noir et blanc, j'adors!!!

Lovely and beautiful music. Thank you for sharing.

C'est très beau.

THIS IS MY FAVORITE RECORDING FROM THE 70'S! I used to go to sleep, nap, dream, plan and live with this in the background of my life. Aaahhhhhh-- it sounds a bit digital now -- I must find a vinyl recording of it but until I do, thank you for uploading this!

Indescribable beauty

Esta música es preciosa la puedo escuchar cientos de veces y trasmite misterio, melancolía,recuerdos sentimientos reflexiones. Pero la música del genio GABRIEL FAURE traspasa al alma,espíritu , no se pueden contener las emociones mas profundas ,quedando en sub-consciente del alma.

Thank you for preserving the most important art describing our sleep selves

probabilmente Debussy quando componeva la sua musica, era in un'altra dimensione.

My favorite Debussy piece.

I'd give Debussy a big warm hug. Sure, he'd yell at me and probably push me away, but yeah, it's worth the try.

Claude Debussy é inigualável. A melhor musica para ficar com o coração tranquilo.

Simply Sensational!

When I was a kid in the '90s my parents got their hands on an audiobook about the pirate captain morgan and his lost treasure, or something, set to this music... i think... this music played, and a narrator (a soothing lady's voice, i think) narrated a story and talked about the music... gosh i'd like to know what it was i was listening to :P if anyone can help~

The firs movement hypnotised me!

0:38 And there I was... Right there, in heaven!

The essence of "tone poems"....

Thanks for uploading!

Debussy é um compositor moderno ,com grande toque de romantismo ,música rica e lindíssima ,pena que tenha vivido tão pouco!

Wow... Don't recall this one - I guess I heard the more popular Debussy stuff; but this is magnificent... ;)

Simplesmente maravilhoso! Genial!

Thank you for for this beautiful gift! Your text is a very good bonus!

Did you know that Debussy was one of the first people to have a colostomy- I think he was an amazing person

This should accompany an opera, it would be perfect.

Nothing can spoil this my friends ❤

Chef d'oeuvre ! Chef d'oeuvre ! Chef d'oeuvre ! Chef d'oeuvre ! Chef d'oeuvre ! Chef d'oeuvre !

So beautiful, so fantastic, it draw epic pictures of adventure in mi mind. And there is this moment: starts at 18:40... and the 18:53 broke my heart. Epic.

Holst definitely took influence from this, especially Sirènes, which was surely the principal muse for the latter part of 'Planets.'

Very cinematic!

Debussy brings us colors only God had seen before.

4:31 to 5:03 just struck something new in me.

I think one of the best things you could do as someone who wants to become a composer/orchestrationist is to rewrite/copy works like these on paper..

Si je ne me trompe, dans 'Sirènes' c'est la première fois qu'un choeur est utilisé sans paroles, pour sa propre couleur, tel un instrument de musique. Le procédé sera repris quelques années plus tard, et d'une autre manière, par Enescu dans sa 3ème symphonie.

one of my favorite Debussy songs.

this is the best version ever conducted

Little known fact - Debussy was bananas about kiwi, papaya and tangerines. But, his absolute favorite was nocturnes.

Thank you!

the beginning reminds me of a segment of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. (intro to part 2)