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Donald Macleod explores Debussy's life as he approaches his thirties, a challenging period both personally and musically. While his life remained one of extreme hardship, in 1890 Debussy met a young woman from Normandy who was willing to share a life together.

One of the 20th century's most original minds, the French composer Claude Debussy has had a profound influence on the course of music. Born in 1862, his precocious talent gained him admittance to the prestigious Paris Conservatoire as a ten-year-old, one of the youngest pupils in the piano class. There were soon indications of his independence of mind. His student years are littered with reports which, while recognising his gifts also found him to be careless and scatterbrained. Debussy found it difficult to focus on his lessons because he felt frustrated with the rules of composition he was told to follow. He wanted to express himself differently, and if he broke the rules to achieve that, well, in his view, so be it.

This week Donald Macleod begins his stories at the point in Debussy's life where, the young man has dispensed with institutional restrictions. He was free to choose his own path. No more rules, no more regulations. There were still some practical considerations he would have to factor in to his plans. Having fulfilled, for the main, the requirements of the Prix de Rome, he needed to make a professional name for himself, and most urgently, earn some money! All in all, it would prove to be a difficult decade.

Debussy's eight-year relationship with Gabrielle Dupont was frequently tested to the limit, no more so than when he announced to his surprised friends that he was contemplating marriage...to a different woman, a singer by the name of Thérèse Roger.

Images (1894)
II: Souvenir de Louvre. Dans le movement d’un Sarabande
Alain Planès, piano

Trois Mélodies de Verlaine
I: La mer est plus belle que les cathedrals
II: Le son du cor s'afflige vers les bois
III: L'échelonnement des haies moutonne à l'infin
Marianne Crebassa (mezzo-soprano)
Fazil Say (piano)

Pour le piano
Prelude
Sarabande
Toccata
Zoltan Kócsis, piano

String quartet in G minor, op 10
II: Assez vif et bien rythme
Ebène Quartet

Proses Lyriques
IV: De soir
Sandrine Piau, soprano
Jos van Immerseel, fortepiano

6 Épigraphes Antiques
Patrick Gallois, flute
Pierre-Henry Xuereb, viola
Fabrice Pierre, harp
Francis Pierre, harp