CLAUDE DEBUSSY Etudes. Esquisses. L'Isle joyeuse. Masques Alain Planès

Debussy dedicated the twelve of 1915 to Chopin, thus placing thisincredibly difficult but sublime pedagogical exercises in direct linefrom their romantic predecessors. And yet such extreme virtuosity hadnever before been turned into such creative fantasy – no study of theoctave or grace or repeated notes had ever been taken so far – and theprecision in spite of the acrobatics is absolutely astounding! Thesestudies were taken to be a sort of offshoot of neoclassicism when theywere first performed, but this is not at all their real place – theybelong amongst the luxuriance that follows on such famous pieces as Masques and L’Isle joyeuse.