Classical Music Playlist, August 22, 2024
“Music must be freed from all learned bombast. It must endeavor with modesty to give joy. Exaggerated complication is the opposite of art. Beauty must be sensually perceivable so that it can...penetrate us without us having difficulty understanding it.”
Before Claude Debussy said that in a 1910 interview, he demonstrated it in his compositions. In what might be called his quiet revolution, Debussy consciously rejected traditional form and development in favor of music with a new color and mood. Clair de Lune, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and Pelléas et Mélisande are examples. He was working toward that in 1893 with his only String Quartet. It's today's Midday Masterpiece as we celebrate Debussy’s birthday today (1862).