# Best impressionistic pieces?



## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

So i listened to some Debusy&Ravel today and became interested about impressionistic music. 
So could you suggest me some great impressionistic pieces of music?
:tiphat:


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## Andreas (Apr 27, 2012)

Apart from Ravel and Debussy, I'd recommend early works by fellow Frenchman Albert Roussel, particularly his first symphony, Poème de la fôret.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The Roman trilogy by Respighi, especially Pini di Roma and Fontane di Roma.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

you have Ravel, there's no need for others...


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

aleazk said:


> you have Ravel, there's no need for others...


Well what are your favorite Ravel pieces?


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

jani said:


> Well what are your favorite Ravel pieces?


well, all of his pieces. He really digs on me. 
Standard "must know pieces" are "Miroirs", "Ma Mere l'Oye", "Le Tombeau de Couperin", for example.


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

Try Toru Takemitsu, for example:


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

This DVD is marvelous. La Mer, Images, and Faune (three of Debussy's masterworks). All in great video and sound quality.


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## SottoVoce (Jul 29, 2011)

aleazk said:


> well, all of his pieces. He really digs on me.
> Standard "must know pieces" are "Miroirs", "Ma Mere l'Oye", "Le Tombeau de Couperin", for example.


Would you consider Ma Mere L'Oye and Le Tombeau impressionist though? I love them so very much but I feel like they fall more under the Faure idiom, French-like in the refined, gentle manner. Ravel was half-classicist and half-impressionist to me.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

SottoVoce said:


> Would you consider Ma Mere L'Oye and Le Tombeau impressionist though? I love them so very much but I feel like they fall more under the Faure idiom, French-like in the refined, gentle manner. Ravel was half-classicist and half-impressionist to me.


well, the guy asked for some Ravel's pieces in general. If they can be catalogued with the loose term of "impressionism" or not, is not something that will deprive me of sleep.


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## Norse (May 10, 2010)

Miroirs, Gaspard de la Nuit and Jeux d'eau strikes me as Ravel's most typically impressionist works. Maybe I'm being a little solo-piano-centric.

Also some Villa-Lobos works, like the A Prole do Bebê suites, have a Ravel/Debussy inspired sound.


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)




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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Ugh I hate the word "Impressionism." It doesn't describe anything about the music. Try Debussy's _Pelleas et Melisande._


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Ravel's ballet Daphnis et Chloe, and Debussy's La Mer are Impressionist masterpieces. If anywhere, start with those.

Frederick Delius, sometimes called the English Impressionist:


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## SottoVoce (Jul 29, 2011)

aleazk said:


> well, the guy asked for some Ravel's pieces in general. If they can be catalogued with the loose term of "impressionism" or not, is not something that will deprive me of sleep.


True, sorry for being pendatic. Just asking for your take on the matter, you seem to be very well-versed on the composer.


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## sah (Feb 28, 2012)

Impressionism + Andalusian music = Nights in the Gardens of Spain (Manuel de Falla).


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

I loved very much my mother, my mother loved this deeply, she was not a connoisseur, but she had a sense for music...

Listen... This is religious... Enormous, divine






This version is not bad, versions are essential. In France they don't call him Debussy but Dieubussy. Dieu= God. Debussy was much better than Ravel, The baronesse von Meck had him as his second protégé after Tchaikovsky. Debussy is in music as Monet is in painting.

Martin


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Debussy's Piano Music. Great stuff.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

sah said:


> Impressionism + Andalusian music = Nights in the Gardens of Spain (Manuel de Falla).


Manuel de Falla...impressionist, I am not so sure...

Martin, hesitating


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## Renaissance (Jul 10, 2012)

Debussy's Trois Nocturnes is a good start. I like very much the last part, "Sirens".


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Some earlier Scriabin pieces might be very suitable:


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

DeepR said:


> Some earlier Scriabin pieces might be very suitable:
> 
> Indeed, Scriabin started as an impressionist to become an expressionist later...as Ravel. Debussy was just an impressionist. And the term impressionism comes from Monet's painting _impressions, soleil levant (impressions from the sunset)._
> 
> ...


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Manuel de Falla was difficult to classify... He wasn't a pure impressionist.

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/manuel-de-falla-mn0000647526

Martin


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> DeepR said:
> 
> 
> > Some earlier Scriabin pieces might be very suitable:
> ...


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

aleazk said:


> myaskovsky2002 said:
> 
> 
> > That is one of the things that I always enjoy in this music. Those pentatonic scales and gongs, quartal chords, etc.
> ...


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## sah (Feb 28, 2012)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> Manuel de Falla was difficult to classify... He wasn't a pure impressionist.
> 
> http://www.allmusic.com/artist/manuel-de-falla-mn0000647526
> 
> Martin


http://francisco-lamusicamoderna.blogspot.com.es/2010/04/manuel-de-falla.html


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

sah said:


> http://francisco-lamusicamoderna.blogspot.com.es/2010/04/manuel-de-falla.html


I read the article in Spanish, he started as an impressionist with Debussy's influence. He was not an impressionist all his life, he became neo-classical as mentioned in the article I sent you. Ravel was the same (not neo-classical though).

Martin


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

No one has mentioned Erik Satie yet. I guess I'll mention him. Definitely not the complexity of the other composers mentioned but enjoyable as well.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Here's something very typical of Satie's style:


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

The film score to Rene Clair's _Entr'Acte_ (which was played during the intermission of the premiere of his ballet _Relache_) is also a good piece of music that displays Satie's typical eccentric style:


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## sah (Feb 28, 2012)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> I read the article in Spanish, he started as an impressionist with Debussy's influence. He was not an impressionist all his life, he became neo-classical as mentioned in the article I sent you. Ravel was the same (not neo-classical though).
> 
> Martin


Yes, but the impressionistic style is present in _Nigths in the gardens of Spain_. Do you agree? Neo-classical, nacionalist,... but some authors mention how he was influenced by the impressionists.

Sergio, too lazy to look in his books at the moment.

About Satie:



> After his early efforts, which resulted in the Trois Sarabandes, Satie moved away from lush impressionist harmonies towards a simpler style of music: diatonic or modal harmony, clear-cut melodies and simple rhythms - very different from the sort of music that was being written by his contemporaries.





> 'Impressionism is the Art of Imprecision,' Satie once wrote, 'Today we tend towards Precision.'2 This attitude is clearly expressed in the Gymnopédies.


http://www.minim-media.com/satie/final2.htm


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

I agree with Satie, impressionism IS the art of imprecision. We often use this expression today speaking of a lack of structure... When you read an article imprecise... Blurred as a Monet painting. I use that term myself with some texts.

Martin


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

Charles Tomlinson Griffes (American) White Peacock and The Vale of Dreams, and The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan are good Impressionistic pieces.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

My favorite impressionistic piece is L'isle Joyeuse for piano by Debussy.
Here it is played by Sviatoslav Richter as only he could.


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## Matsps (Jan 13, 2014)

Debussy I think is the best impressionist composer and his best piece for me is: Debussy - Reverie 

Do try to listen to several recordings of this piece if you do enjoy it. There is a great variance in interpretation of this piece!


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## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

Doesn't some Debussy sound a lot like Holst? I think I've just nearly confused the two...


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