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 hers of modern
music. Warner Classics’ new 33-CD box set, to be released in
January, stands as the first and only complete collection of
s of Debussy’s music. It comprises all his known works,
including six pieces in world-premiere s 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 s carefully chosen
for their artistic quality and their authenticity of spirit, with
the invaluable addition of a bonus album of s 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
ard, 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 s: 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 Cet
(for piano solo, two pianos and orchestrations), even those
carried out after Debussy’s death. Cet’s orchestrations of two
of theAriettes oubliées(22/13-14) are recorded here for the first
time. Most of Cet’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