Claude Debussy : NPR

Conversation Between The Keys: Víkingur Ólafsson Meets Debussy And Rameau

Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson says he thinks of the composers on his new album, Debussy – Rameau, as "painters in sound." Ari Magg/Deutsche Grammophon hide caption

toggle caption

Ari Magg/Deutsche Grammophon

Conversation Between The Keys: Víkingur Ólafsson Meets Debussy And Rameau

March 27, 2020 • On his new album, the rising pianist once called "Iceland's Glenn Gould" offers a dialogue between two radical French composers born nearly 200 years apart.

Jeremy Denk Maps Centuries of Music History on 'c.1300-c.2000'

Jeremy Denk's c.1300-c.2000 comes out Feb. 8 on Nonesuch. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption

Courtesy of the artist

Review

Jeremy Denk Maps Centuries of Music History on 'c.1300-c.2000'

January 31, 2019 • Hear the resourceful pianist trace 700 years of Western music, from the delicate medieval counterpoint of Guillaume de Machaut to the minimalism of Philip Glass.

Claude Debussy Plays His Own Jazzy 'La Plus Que Lente'

Claude Debussy, photographed ca. 1908. He died 100 years ago on March 25, 1918. Wikimedia Commons hide caption

toggle caption

Wikimedia Commons

Review

Claude Debussy Plays His Own Jazzy 'La Plus Que Lente'

March 23, 2018 • Marking the 100th anniversary of the visionary composer's death, hear Debussy play his own music on a 1913 piano roll.

14La plus que lente

3:35

Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/592926620/592930020" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Buy Featured Music

Song
La plus que lente
Album
Claude Debussy: The Complete Works
Artist
Claude debussy
Label
Warner Classics
Released
2018

Your purchase helps support NPR programming. How?
- Amazon
- iTunes

Carnegie Hall Live: The Chicago Symphony Plays A Colorful Concert

Riccardo Muti leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a concert of powerhouse orchestral works at Carnegie Hall. AJ Wilhelm for NPR Music hide caption

toggle caption

AJ Wilhelm for NPR Music

Carnegie Hall Live: The Chicago Symphony Plays A Colorful Concert

WQXR Radio

January 26, 2015 • Hear the CSO and its charismatic conductor Riccardo Muti in a program showing the muscle and subtlety of the of orchestra in music by Scriabin, Debussy and Mendelssohn.

Carnegie Hall Live: The Chicago Symphony Plays A Colorful Concert

Audio is no longer available

Seattle Symphony, New Pulitzer Winner At Carnegie Hall

Composer John Luther Adams accepts enthusiastic applause from the Carnegie Hall audience after the New York premiere of his 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning piece, Become Ocean, performed by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Melanie Burford/for NPR Music hide caption

toggle caption

Melanie Burford/for NPR Music

Classics in Concert

Seattle Symphony, New Pulitzer Winner At Carnegie Hall

WQXR Radio

May 6, 2014 • John Luther Adams' prize-winning piece Become Ocean headlines a concert devoted to sea and sand that includes Debussy's La mer and an Edgard Varèse piece inspired by the New Mexico desert.

Seattle Symphony, New Pulitzer Winner At Carnegie Hall

2:26:58

Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/308067525/310165736" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Reneé Fleming And Susan Graham At Carnegie Hall

Reneé Fleming (right) and Susan Graham — two "cheerful Americans" often mistaken for each other — are planning an intimate evening of French song. Craig T. Mathew/Mathew Imaging hide caption

toggle caption

Craig T. Mathew/Mathew Imaging

Classics in Concert

Reneé Fleming And Susan Graham At Carnegie Hall

January 23, 2013 • Two opera stars conjure the intimate atmosphere of the late 19th-century Parisian salon, telling stories and singing songs by Saint-Saëns, Fauré and Debussy.

Reneé Fleming And Susan Graham At Carnegie Hall

Audio is no longer available

Marc Andre Hamelin: The Praiseworthy Pianist

Marc-Andre Hamelin plays one of his own transcriptions of a second-hand arrangement of an old French chanson in the Performance Today studio. Fran Kaufman hide caption

toggle caption

Fran Kaufman

Favorite Sessions

Marc Andre Hamelin: The Praiseworthy Pianist

American Public Media

August 20, 2009 • Hamelin doesn't like to be called a virtuoso, but his skills are hard to deny. Hear him indulge his two pianistic passions in the APM studio: making the treacherously difficult sound easy and uncovering pieces by little-known composers.

Hear Marc-Andre Hamelin At The Performance Today Studio

17:22

Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/112039260/111579900" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Favorite Sessions

Yolanda Kondonassis: Impressions Of The Harp

American Public Media

June 26, 2009 • The adventurous harpist joins flutist Joshua Smith and violist Cynthia Phelps in the Performance Today studio to explore the musical connections between two impressionist composers — Toru Takemitsu and his hero, Claude Debussy.

Hear Yolanda Kondonassis And Friends In The APM Studio

29:51

Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/105927495/105923179" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Classics in Concert

Cliburn Competition Awards Two Gold Medals

June 7, 2009 • This year's contest ended in a surprise tie for first place. Hear both Gold Medalists perform, along with other final round contestants at the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, held every four years in Fort Worth, Texas.

Music Interviews

N.Y. Philharmonic Bids Farewell To Clarinetist

June 2, 2009 • When clarinetist Stanley Drucker retires from the New York Philharmonic at the end of June, he will have played in more than 10,200 concerts, with 400 different conductors, over a 60-year tenure.

N.Y. Philharmonic Bids Farewell To Clarinetist

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/104790741/104813703" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Music Interviews

Chicago Symphony Tops U.S. Orchestras

November 21, 2008 • The city of Chicago has one more thing to boast about: Its hometown orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, has been named America's top orchestra in a new critics' poll published in the venerable British magazine Gramophone.

Chicago Symphony Tops U.S. Orchestras

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/97291390/97296010" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Music

Debussy's Musical Game of Deception

July 12, 2008 • The Cleveland Orchestra is matched against Claude Debussy's tennis-inspired ballet Jeux, which conductor Franz Welser-Möst calls one of the most difficult symphonic pieces to perform.

Hear Franz Welser-Möst discuss Debussy and the Cleveland Orchestra

Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/92338564/92346555" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Favorite Sessions

Leif Ove Andsnes: Pianist on the Precipice

WGBH Radio

February 22, 2008 • Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes has traveled Europe to explore the life and music of his country's greatest composer, Edvard Grieg. The quest continues as Andsnes plays Grieg in the WGBH studio.

Hear Leif Ove Andsnes play Grieg in the WGBH studio

Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/19238898/19240596" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

From the Top

O'Riley Goes Fishing for Debussy

September 5, 2007 • From the Top host Chris O'Riley explores the composer's musical impression of delicate shimmering goldfish swimming in a pond.

O'Riley Goes Fishing for Debussy

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/14159925/14159903" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Favorite Sessions

Pierre-Laurent Aimard and the Art of the Etude

American Public Media

August 23, 2007 • An Etude is basically a practice piece, designed to improve a certain aspect of technique. But the Etudes Claude Debussy composed go far beyond that. Pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard unfolds the layers of colorful detail in Debussy's Etudes, in the studio with host Fred Child.

From the Top

O'Riley's Watery Reflections

May 30, 2007 • From the Top host Christopher O'Riley plays one of Claude Debussy's most impressionistic piano pieces—"Reflections in the Water." It's from a set called "Images" written by Debussy in 1905.

O'Riley's Watery Reflections

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/10511218/10511221" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">