Although Claude Debussy grew to hate the label "Impressionist," there is no denying the affinities between the iridescent color in paintings such as Monet's and the diaphanous textures of Debussy's music. Such musical painting is at its most absorbingly sensual in his greatest orchestral works, which have been recorded often but never better than they are in these strikingly present recordings from the late seventies and early eighties. These Dutch forces--performing on their home turf, the most acoustically perfect concert hall in the world--strike the perfect textural balances and capture every last brush stroke of detail.
- The Cleveland Orchestra & Pierre Boulez
- Leonard Bernstein & New York Philharmonic
- Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim, Martha Argerich & Nelson Freire
- Charles Munch & Boston Symphony Orchestra
- Boston Pops Orchestra, Claudio Abbado & London Symphony Orchestra
- Michael Tilson Thomas & London Symphony Orchestra