COLLECTION

Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Alice Chalifoux (harp), Barry Douglas (piano), Sigurd Rascher (saxophone), Stanley Drucker (clarinet), Leonid Hambro (piano), Paul Crossley (piano), Philippe Entremont (piano), Robert Casadesus (piano), Arthur Rubinstein (piano), Vladimir Horowitz (piano), Robert Casadesus & Gaby Casadesus (piano), Andre Previn (piano), Julie Rosenfeld (violin), Gary Hoffmann (cello), Steven Isserlis (cello), Thomas Ades (piano), Jean-Pierre Rampal (flute), Lynn Harrell (cello), James Levine (piano), James Galway (flute), Graham Oppenheimer (viola). Marisa Robles (harp), Isaac Stern (violin), Alexander Zakin (piano), Eileen Farrell (soprano), George Trovillo (piano), Edita Gruberova (soprano), Friedrich Haider (piano), Dawn Upshaw (soprano), Frederica von Stade (mezzo), Martin Katz (piano), Leontyne Price (soprano), Paula Rasmussen (mezzo), George Shirley (Pelléas), Elisabeth Söderström (Mélisande), Donald McIntyre (Golaud), Yvonne Minton (Geneviève), David Ward (Arkel), Anthony Britten (Yniold), Sylvia McNair (soprano), Ann Murray (mezzo), Nathalie Stutzmann (contralto), Leslie Caron (narrator), Graham Oppenheimer (viola), Marisa Robles (harp), Richard Stoltzman (clarinet), Nancy Allen (harp), Richard Stoltzman and Nancy Allen (harp), Vladimir Spivakov (violin), Sergei Bezrodny (piano), Jascha Heifetz (violin), Brooks Smith (piano), Xavier de Maistre (harp), Diana Damrau (soprano)

Boston Symphony Orchestra, New Philharmonia Orchestra, John Alldis Choir, Cleveland Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, New York Philharmonic, Tokyo String Quartet, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Women of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, London Mozart Players, Members of the Wiener Philharmoniker, Charles Munch, Pierre Boulez, Michael Tilson Thomas, Marek Janowski, Leonard Bernstein, Francesco Molinari Pradelli, Esa-Pekka Salonen

This limited-edition boxed set is a real bargain for all who would like to hear more from the composer of famous works like Clair de lune and La Mer. The Collection starts with a selection of popular orchestral pieces such as La Mer, Nocturnes, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune in legendary interpretations by Charles Munch, Leonard Bernstein and Pierre Boulez.

Perhaps best-known for his beautiful compositions for the piano, Debussy’s complete music for piano featuring Robert and Gaby Casadesus, Glenn Gould, Philippe Entremont, Vladimir Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein and others is included on discs 4-9. The pieces for piano four hands are contributed by Gaby and Robert Casadesus while the chamber-music collections feature artists such as André Previn, James Levine, Steven Isserlis, Lynn Harrell, Pierre Rampal, James Galway, Isaac Stern and the Tokyo String Quartet.

The two CDs of songs include the complete Chansons de Bilitis, Ariettes oubliées and Fêtes galantes (Set 1) by Frederica von Stade as well as the recital recorded by Dawn Upshaw and James Levine. After Pelléas et Mélisande on three CDs, conducted by Pierre Boulez, and Le Martyre de saint Sébastien by Leonard Bernstein, The Claude Debussy Collection becomes a real treasure trove for collectors. CD 17 comprises famous Debussy encores in arrangements for flute, clarinet and violin featuring artists like James Galway and Jascha Heifetz. CD 18 is the limited special edition of Xavier de Maistre’s original album Nuits d’Étoiles – Harp music by Claude Debussy.

Along with Maurice Ravel, French composer Claude-Achille Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of Impressionist music. He is among the most important of all French composers and a central figure in European music around the turn of the last century. Noted for its sensory component and for rarely forming around one key or pitch, Debussy’s music often reflects the activities and turbulence in his life and virtually defines the transition from late-Romantic to 20th-century modernist music.

Debussy:
6 Epigraphes antiques
Apparition - song (1884)
Ballade slave
Ballet
Beau Soir
Berceuse héroïque
Cello Sonata
Children's Corner
Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire
Clair de Lune (from Suite Bergamasque)
Clair de lune (song)
Coquetterie posthume
D'un cahier d'esquisses
Danse - Tarantelle styrienne
Danse bohemienne
Deux Danses for harp & strings
Élégie, L138
En blanc et noir
En sourdine
3 Estampes
12 Études pour piano
Fantasie for piano and orchestra
Fantoches
Fêtes galantes - Set 1
Fleur des blés (André Girod)
Golliwog's Cakewalk (from Children's Corner)
Hommage à Haydn
Images for orchestra, L. 122
Images oubliées: Lent
Images pour piano - Books 1 & 2
Jeux - Poème dansé
L'isle joyeuse
La Boite A Joujoux
La chevelure
La Damoiselle élue
La Mer
La mer est plus belle
La plus que lente
La romance d'Ariel
Le Faune
Le Lilas
Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien
Le petit nègre
Mandoline (Verlaine)
Masques
Mazurka
Musique
Nocturne
Nocturne et Scherzo
Noël des enfants qui n'ont plus de maison
Nuit d'étoiles
Page d'album
Pantomime
Paysage sentimental
Pelléas et Mélisande
Petite Pièce pour Clarinette et Piano
Petite Suite
Petite Suite: En bateau
Piano Trio in G major
Pièce pour piano (Morceau de concours)
Pierrot
Pour le piano
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
Préludes - Book 1: No. 1, Danseuses de Delphes
Préludes - Book 1: No. 2, Voiles
Préludes - Book 1: No. 8, La fille aux cheveux de lin
Préludes - Book 2
Printemps, suite for piano 4 hands or orchestra, L. 61
Regret
Rêverie
Rhapsody for clarinet & piano (or orchestra), L. 116 'Première rapsodie'
Romance: L'âme évaporée et souffrante
Sonata for Flute, Viola & Harp
String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10
Suite Bergamasque
Syrinx for solo flute
The Little Shepherd (from Children's Corner)
Trois chansons de Bilitis
Trois Nocturnes
Valse romantique (L. 71)
Violin Sonata in G minor
Voici que le printemps (Romance) (Paul Bourget)