Debussy’s Entire Instrumental Chamber Works /1 A Zeneakadémia saját szervezésű programja

Debussy gave a composer’s recital in Budapest in 1910. After the concert Géza Csáth conducted an interview with the composer, who questioned the so-called Debussy revolution. “I never fermented a revolution and I am not a revolutionary,” he stated. “Anyone who says this of me does not know me or my music. And anyway, who am I revolting against? Against those who came before me? Those who are truly great, of whom I have the greatest respect and admiration? Sparking a revolution against Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn? Nonsense. These are immortal masters, what they have done will live on forever and no sort of revolution can ever refute this.” Scanning through the (not particularly lengthy) list of Debussy chamber compositions, it is clearly apparent that there is a preponderance of classical chamber genres. Doesn’t this appear somewhat anachronistic a century after Haydn and Mozart? Of course, looking in greater depth at the works it immediately becomes clear that there is something provocative, or put another way, revolutionary, in the anachronism of Debussy’s chamber music. If Erik Satie was right when he said of Debussy that “this art revolutionary was very civil in everyday life”, then why wouldn’t he have been the most revolutionary within the framework of civil salon circles? In this Complete Works Live series designed to present in their entirety certain genres of composers’ oeuvres, recent graduates and doctoral students of the Liszt Academy offer a comprehensive picture of Debussy’s chamber music.