On 25 March 2018, we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Claude Debussy, the most influential and beloved of all French composers, widely considered one of the fathers of modern music. Warner Classics’ new 33-CD box set, to be released in January, stands as the first and only complete collection of recordings of Debussy’s music. It comprises all his known works, including six pieces in world-premiere recordings made especially for this edition. Compiled in collaboration with renowned Debussy expert Denis Herlin (Editor-in-Chief of the complete critical edition of Debussy’s music for Durand, the composer’s publisher), Debussy: The Complete Works comprises recordings carefully chosen for their artistic quality and their authenticity of spirit, with the invaluable addition of a bonus album of recordings made by Debussy himself – he was a superb pianist. Other superb musicians featured in this collection include Martha Argerich, Itzhak Perlman, Yehudi Menuhin, Daniel Barenboim, Kent Nagano, Sir Simon Rattle, and the crème de la crème of the French school, from Aldo Ciccolini, Samson François and Gérard Souzay to Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Philippe Jaroussky, Roberto Alagna, Natalie Dessay and Quatuor Ebène. + Read more This complete edition brings together all Debussy’s known works. The one work that is not currently available is the orchestral version of anIntermezzocomposed in June 1882. However, it is possible to form an idea of how this might have sounded thanks to Debussy’s own transcription of the piece for piano duet (7/5). The following works can be heard here in premiere recordings: theChanson des brises(1882) for soprano solo, female chorus and piano four-hands (24/12), the complete manuscript of which has recently come to light; the first version (1898) of the twoChansons de Chansons de Charles d’Orléans(25/5-6); Diane au bois(1885-87), a “comédie lyrique” for soprano, tenor and piano (26/1); the beginning ofLa Chute de la maison Usher, as it was when Debussy set the work aside in 1916 (30/6-15); To this group of works, we have added the piano reductions ofKhamma(4/13) – whose orchestration was mainly the work of Koechlin – and ofJeux(4/14), both of which provided the basis on which the choreography of the two ballets was devised. Moreover, some of Debussy’s transcriptions from the 1890s have never been recorded until now: À la fontaine, an arrangement for piano solo ofAm Springbrunnenfrom Schumann’s Op.85 set of piano duets (6/9); Humoresque en forme de valse, an arrangement for piano solo of Raff’sHumoreske in Walzerform, op.159, for piano duet (6/10); Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No.2 andAirs d’Étienne Marcel, arranged for two pianos, four hands (11/8-18); In addition to the above, we have included several arrangements of Debussy’s works made by composers with whom he was on friendly terms. The complete edition contains all the transcriptions by André Caplet (for piano solo, two pianos and orchestrations), even those carried out after Debussy’s death. Caplet’s orchestrations of two of theAriettes oubliées(22/13-14) are recorded here for the first time. Most of Caplet’s transcriptions received Debussy’s seal of approval, and the composer conducted the orchestral version ofChildren’s Corner(18/14-19) on several occasions and took part in performances of the two-piano version of Ibéria (10/5-7). The same applies to the arrangements made by Henri Busser, Jean Roger-Ducasse, Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht and Bernardino Molinari. Ravel’s transcriptions and orchestrations are testimony to his admiration for Debussy. Finally, it is worth noting that Debussy was on good terms with the violinist Arthur Hartmann and transcribedMinstrels, one of the pianoPréludes, for his f
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