Warner Classics Debussy - The Complete Works

One of history’s most captivating and inventive musical geniuses, Claude Debussy exercises an influence unmatched by any other French composer. This 33-CD set – the most complete recorded collection of his music that has ever been assembled – comprises all his known works and includes four specially-made world premiere recordings. The distinguished array of interpreters – Debussy himself among them – includes a suitably impressive contingent from France. With each performance expertly selected for its artistic quality and authenticity of spirit, this complete edition represents a substantial landmark. This 33-CD set, comprising outstanding recordings selected by Debussy experts, exemplifies the depth and breadth of the Warner Classics catalogue and the label’s commitment to producing comprehensive landmark editions of the highest quality. Being complete, the set complements much-loved masterpieces, the foundation of Debussy’s reputation, with works that remain lesser-known or which have even remained undiscovered until now. It includes transcriptions/orchestrations of Debussy’s works by other composers that Debussy himself approved, and also Debussy’s own transcriptions of works by other composers, some of them previously unrecorded. Among the works given world-premiere recordings are: • Chanson des brises (1882) for female voices and piano • Diane au bois (1885-87) for soprano, ténor et piano • The first version (1898) of the Chansons de Charles d’Orléans; • Fragments of the opera La Chute de la maison Usher (1916) as Debussy left it • Piano reductions of Khamma and Jeux by the composer. Debussy himself can be heard accompanying the Scottish soprano Mary Garden (his original Mélisande) in the Ariettes oubliées and a short extract from Pelléas et Mélisande, and in various piano works, recorded for the gramophone and in the form of piano rolls. The recording of the mystery play with music Le Martyre de saint Sébastien, conducted by André Cluytens, is the only recording to present Gabriele d’Annunzio’s complete text. Among the French/adoptive French/French-Canadian performers are: PIANISTS Pierre-Laurent Aimard • Michel Béroff • Philippe Cassard • Bertrand Chamayou • Aldo Ciccolini • Jean-Philippe Collard • Claude Debussy • Jérôme Ducros • Jacques Février • Samson François INSTRUMENTALISTS Renaud Capuçon • Maurice Gendron • Emmanuel Pahud • Lily Laskine • Quatuor Ebène SINGERS Roberto Alagna • Natalie Dessay • Karina Gauvin • Véronique Gens • Philippe Jaroussky • François Le Roux • Mady Mesplé • Gérard Souzay • José van Dam • Rachel Yakar ACTRESS Delphine Seyrig CONDUCTORS André Cluytens • Jean Martinon • Michel Plasson • Manuel Rosenthal • François-Xavier Roth Among the other major artists are: PIANISTS Martha Argerich • Yuri Egorov INSTRUMENTALISTS Yehudi Menuhin • Itzhak Perlman SINGERS Elly Ameling • Mary Garden • Rita Gorr • Barbara Hendricks CONDUCTORS Daniel Barenboim • James Conlon • Mikko Franck •Carlo Maria Giulini • Armin Jordan • Kent Nagano • Sir Simon Rattle