Episodes

TitleFirst
Broadcast
Comments
An Invocation To Pan20180324Matthew Sweet on the spirit of decadence and the thirst for the exotic in 19th-century Paris and introduces music performed by the Nash Ensemble and French actress Lesley Caron.

Music includes

Ravel: Sonatine, arr Carlos Salzedo/Skaila Kanga for flute, viola and harp

Ravel: Trois Po耀mes de St退phane Mallarm退

Stravinsky: Three Japanese Lyrics (1912)

Debussy: Trois Chansons de Bilitis

Lesley Caron (narrator)

Sophie Bevan (soprano)

Nash Ensemble:

Philippa Davies (flute)

Sarah Newbold (flute)

Richard Horsford (clarinet)

Sam Gillespie (clarinet)

Stephanie Gonley (violin)

Michael Gurevich (violin)

Lawrence Power (viola)

Bjorg Lewis(cello)

Lucy Wakeford (harp)

Hugh Webb (harp)

Alistair Beatson (piano)

Directed by Ian Brown.

Matthew Sweet on Debussy, the Belle Epoque and the exotic.

Series commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Debussy

Ballets Russes20180324Georgia Mann explores facets of Debussy's Paris with a look at the arrival of Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes, and a visit to the Art Deco temple to the arts, the Th退 tre des Champs-ɀlys退es.

Diaghalev and his Russians made a huge impact on the Parisian art world at the turn of the 20th century and one of the first composers Diaghilev sought to write a new ballet for his company was Debussy. A new, forward-looking theatre was required, a place that reflected modern thinking and modern ideas - a place such as the newly built Th退 tre des Champs-ɀlys退es on Paris's west side.

Georgia Mann explores facets of Debussy's Paris at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees.

Series commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Debussy

Bois De Boulogne To The Avenue Foch20180324Georgia Mann traces the area in Paris where Debussy's life reached its difficult conclusion, in a city besieged by war, in the last flickering moments of its Belle ɀpoque.

Featuring some of music that Debussy composed at the very end of his life.

Debussy:

Noel des enfants qui n'ont plus de maison' (Tapiola Choir/Kari Ala-Pollanen)

Pi耀ce pour l'œuvre du Vꀀtement du Bless退 (Noriko Ogawa)

Les soir illumines par l'ardeur du charbon (Jean Efflan Bavouzet)

Elegie (Noriko Ogawa)

En blanc et noir - mvts 2&3 (Martha Argerich and Stephen Kovacevich).

Georgia Mann traces the area in Paris where Debussy's life reached its conclusion.

Series commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Debussy

Cirque D'hiver20180324Georgia Mann continues her journey through Debussy's Paris with a visit to the 19th-century Cirque d'Hiver for a focus on the impact of popular entertainment on artists of the day.

Like Lautrec, Seurat and Picasso, Debussy loved the circus, and famously depicted the clown 'General Lavine' in one of his piano preludes. 'The attraction of the virtuoso for the public is very like that of the circus for the crowd,' he once said.

Georgia Mann continues her journey through Debussy's Paris.

Series commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Debussy

Money And Monde20180324Georgia Mann with a look at the importance of money and the haute bourgeoisie in Debussy's Paris. She walks in the footsteps of Marcel Proust, in the affluent area around the Parc Monceau and visits one of the most luxurious private houses of the period, that of Eduard Andre and his wife Nelie Jacquemart. A house, built in 1875 and bequeathed to the state in 1913 and which is still much as it was in their day.

Georgia Mann tastes the life of the affluent class of Fin de Siecle Paris.

Series commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Debussy

Symbolists And Mallarme20180324Georgia Mann goes on a journey through Debussy's Paris.

Series commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Debussy