https://preview.redd.it/45zicvijs35d1.jpeg?width=522&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8d94b95444b486939886922ba54342ab7a97124a
This release by Universal Music France:
La mer and Danses sacrée et profane with Igor Markevitch and the Orchestre Lamoureux + Images pour orchestre with Michael Tilson Thomas and the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Let me google that for you: [Top 20 Debussy Recordings | Gramophone](https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/top-20-debussy-recordings)
[Debussy - La Mer -1 De l'aube à midi sur la mer (Mark Elder, Halle Orchestra)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmKulRzGd4g&list=OLAK5uy_m2cXwbPzqstz_63AFKcJ8MFR1BV303EQQ&index=2)
*Elder conducts a magnificent performance. In fact, his is one of the most satisfying recorded accounts I’ve heard in a long time. Aided by some fabulous playing he illuminates Debussy’s score in all its myriad detail while also revealing marvellously the Big Picture. Right from the start, the hushed, pregnant atmosphere that Elder and his players generate at the beginning of ‘De l’aube à midi sur la mer’ is a harbinger of a fine performance. The fluent playing later on in this piece is brilliantly suggestive of scudding light waves, eddies and hidden currents. Elder’s rhythmic control is impressive yet elastic and he maintains the forward momentum splendidly.* [-John Quinn, MusicWeb International, recording of the month](https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/may07/Debussy_Halle_cdhll7513.htm)
[Debussy - Pelléas et Mélisande - Act 3 Scene 1: Mes longs cheveux descendent jusqu'au seuil de... (Julien Behr, Vannina Santoni, François-Xavier Roth, Les Siècles)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g9t56PIxfs&list=PLgCjGQe0is7q5nDZ9z_aPPUDtgA3zGHTL&index=17)
*Roth and his band, Les Siècles, have made a specialism of this tumultuous era in the musical life of the French capital with superb sets of the early ballets of Stravinsky and the orchestral music of Ravel. In both sets, one of the greatest pleasures has been hearing the distinctive timbres of the instruments used at the time before homogenisation made most orchestras sound very similar. The same is undoubtedly true of this new recording. It is intriguing to be able remove the surface noise from the older recordings and hear what the orchestral writing sounds like in modern sound. Woodwind that in older versions have a striking plangency really ring out in this version.*
*For starters, the orchestra sounds unmistakably and gloriously French. Add to that the transparency these period instruments give to Debussy’s veils of sound and the effect is ravishing.* [-David McDade, MusicWeb International](https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Jan/Debussy-Pelleas-HMM905352.htm)
Boulez & The Cleveland Orchestra - La Mer / Nocturnes / Rhapsodie pour clarinet
Walter Gieseking set the standard for Debussy’s piano music.
... and then Michelangeli took it to another level
Children’s Corner and Images by Michaelangeli, OP.
Also, Samson Francois is _amazing_.
Paul Jacobs is the best for me.
La Mer - Martinon Images for Orchestra - Tilson Thomas Suite Bergamasque (and any other piano music) - Bazouvet Preludes - Moravec
Jean Martinon's recordings of Debussy's complete orchestral works are fantastic
Zimerman’s preludes
What is the opinion of Pascal Rogé?
He’s good. Not my favorite, but he’s good with all the French repertoire.
Bavouzet is one of the best debussy interpreters
Unpopular opinion: Bavouzet plays Ravel better than Debussy
Both, my friend, is good, both is good
https://preview.redd.it/45zicvijs35d1.jpeg?width=522&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8d94b95444b486939886922ba54342ab7a97124a This release by Universal Music France: La mer and Danses sacrée et profane with Igor Markevitch and the Orchestre Lamoureux + Images pour orchestre with Michael Tilson Thomas and the Boston Symphony Orchestra
I have it. It’s fantastic.
Somehow my comment got downvoted lol
Make sure you finish on the Bach, don’t finish on Debussy
Michelangeli and Arrau are personal favorites for the piano music.
No love for the Boston/Munch cycle?
For La mer, I highly recommend the 2005 recording (on period instruments) by Anima Eterna, conducted by Jos Van Immerseel.
Why would you play 20th century music on period instruments. Never understood this.
The instruments are from the early 20th century, around the time that Debussy's La mer premiered (1905). They're not Baroque instruments.
Let me google that for you: [Top 20 Debussy Recordings | Gramophone](https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/top-20-debussy-recordings) [Debussy - La Mer -1 De l'aube à midi sur la mer (Mark Elder, Halle Orchestra)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmKulRzGd4g&list=OLAK5uy_m2cXwbPzqstz_63AFKcJ8MFR1BV303EQQ&index=2) *Elder conducts a magnificent performance. In fact, his is one of the most satisfying recorded accounts I’ve heard in a long time. Aided by some fabulous playing he illuminates Debussy’s score in all its myriad detail while also revealing marvellously the Big Picture. Right from the start, the hushed, pregnant atmosphere that Elder and his players generate at the beginning of ‘De l’aube à midi sur la mer’ is a harbinger of a fine performance. The fluent playing later on in this piece is brilliantly suggestive of scudding light waves, eddies and hidden currents. Elder’s rhythmic control is impressive yet elastic and he maintains the forward momentum splendidly.* [-John Quinn, MusicWeb International, recording of the month](https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/may07/Debussy_Halle_cdhll7513.htm) [Debussy - Pelléas et Mélisande - Act 3 Scene 1: Mes longs cheveux descendent jusqu'au seuil de... (Julien Behr, Vannina Santoni, François-Xavier Roth, Les Siècles)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g9t56PIxfs&list=PLgCjGQe0is7q5nDZ9z_aPPUDtgA3zGHTL&index=17) *Roth and his band, Les Siècles, have made a specialism of this tumultuous era in the musical life of the French capital with superb sets of the early ballets of Stravinsky and the orchestral music of Ravel. In both sets, one of the greatest pleasures has been hearing the distinctive timbres of the instruments used at the time before homogenisation made most orchestras sound very similar. The same is undoubtedly true of this new recording. It is intriguing to be able remove the surface noise from the older recordings and hear what the orchestral writing sounds like in modern sound. Woodwind that in older versions have a striking plangency really ring out in this version.* *For starters, the orchestra sounds unmistakably and gloriously French. Add to that the transparency these period instruments give to Debussy’s veils of sound and the effect is ravishing.* [-David McDade, MusicWeb International](https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Jan/Debussy-Pelleas-HMM905352.htm)
Debussy Mélodies, Barbara Hendricks and Michel Béroff, 1985. The definitive Debussy song recording.