# Pieces like Clair de lune.



## BenG (Aug 28, 2018)

Gosh... This piece is so perfect. I wish there was more like it. The closest I could find like it was Grieg's peace of the woods. Any suggestions?


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## Tikoo Tuba (Oct 15, 2018)

I don't know much about perfection . Perhaps all moon tunes are perfect organically . Moonlight Sonata . Shine On Harvest Moon - when classically ragtimey . Hello from the farm at corn harvest . The Corn Angels rage .


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I've over-listened to Clair De Lune. This one moves me as much or more


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*Cage; DREAM & IN A LANDSCAPE*

It freaks some members when I mention the following works of John Cage:

_Dream_:






_In a Landscape_:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Other composers have been inspired by moonlight.

Jongen: 




Schumann: 




Vierne: 




Faure: 




Schoenberg:


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

De Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

There's a lot more Debussy piano music to explore beyond Clair de lune. I can't think of any specific piece that could be "like it", but much of his piano music is similar - wistful, beauty for beauty's sake, pensive, "impressionist" (sic).

You'll get similar with Ravel. Then there are the famous Gymnopedies and Gnossiennes by Satie? Slightly less well-known, the piano music of Leos Janacek is stunningly beautiful, and in many ways Debussian.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I thought of Janáček too - On an Overgrown Path and In the Mists
I would add also Liszt, because Debussy seems to have been inspired by him - check Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este (part of Années de Pélerinage) or Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude (part of Harmonies poétiques et religieuses) or Harmonies du soir and you will see that Debussy might not be that original in the end
I would also consider some Chopin, such as Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante, although he is a different style from Debussy
and check Debussy's Preludes, if you are not familiar with them. A lot of music similar to Claire de la lune


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I've always found this piece to have a lot of Debussy sound to it. But the truth is, Debussy had a lot of _Grieg _sound! Debussy overtly said that he was influenced by Grieg's miniatures. It's definitely a place to start if you're looking for connections. The web of classical music is vast.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Tikoo Tuba said:


> I don't know much about perfection . Perhaps all moon tunes are perfect organically . Moonlight Sonata . Shine On Harvest Moon - when classically ragtimey . Hello from the farm at corn harvest . The Corn Angels rage .


You forgot Moon River.


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

At times even early Bartok has a certain Debussy-esque quality (even when he's just reworking folk tunes!). I heard Anderszewski play this live once, and it was magical.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

If you're tired of the ol' standard _Clair de Lune_ (I'm not!), you might try it with a twist of jazz, a la Fred Hersch (from an album titled _The French Collection _on EMI Angel).






Too, there's this (from Kamasi Washington):






And this (from the European Jazz Trio):






And this (in "big band" style):






In fact, there are enough arrangements of this piece that one need never run out of versions/variations to explore. Go for it. It's a beautiful piece, in the original or in arrangement!


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

The piece I most associate with Clair de Lune is Schumann's Traumerei.


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

Here are some other piano works that you might find interesting:

Debussy Reverie:










Poulenc Melancolie: 




Ravel Pavane pour une infante defunte: 




Ravel "Oiseaux Tristes" from his Miroirs: 




Ravel Gaspard de la Nuit: 




Mompou Impresiones intimas: 




Satie 3 Gymnopedies, and 6 Gnossiennes--Here are various recordings to sample:


















You also might enjoy exploring the rest of Debussy's solo piano music, which is all wonderful--especially his Images Books 1 & 2, Preludes Books 1 & 2, Childrens Corner, and Estampes, in addition to the Suite Bergamasque, Reverie etc.:

Zoltan Kocsis plays Debussy:










Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli plays Images Books 1 & 2, and Children's Corner: 




Nelson Freire plays Debussy Preludes Book 1:






















I can't imagine that you won't enjoy Chopin's Nocturnes as well:






along with "Mignon", by Robert Schumann (from his Album für die Jugend or "Album for the Young"):


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Why not the whole suite bergamasque.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Interesting _Clair de Lune_ story, maybe?

I was a music major at the University of North Carolina Greensboro back in the 1960's. One of the piano instructors was Daniel Ericourt. He was Artist-in-Residence at the University from 1963 to 1976. As a child prodigy he was a friend of Debussy and appeared on stage with him. He was considered one of the great Debussy pianists.

Whenever he did a recital he refused to play _Clair de Lune_, even as an encore. Some of the students who studied with him told me that he had played it so many times he was sick of it.

For those who are interested I found Ericourt's obituary: https://www.greensboro.com/funeral-held-today-for-famed-concert-pianist-pianist-daniel-ericourt/article_6300ce7d-5ffe-51c1-9bdd-74ef6f5430ea.html


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