Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy (1862–1918) painted with sound. Rejecting the heavy rhetoric of the nineteenth century, he created a music of light, water and air — Clair de lune, La Mer, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune — where harmony floats free and every chord is a colour.

Often called the father of musical impressionism, Debussy influenced everyone from Ravel to film composers of today. In concert his works cast an intimate, dreamlike spell unlike anything else in the repertoire.