Lucy Parham piano; Sir Simon Russell Beale narrator

One of the most prolific and innovative composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Claude Debussy absorbed and transformed cultural influences from countries as far apart as Scotland (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair), Japan (Poissons d’or) and the USA (Cake-Walk). A crucial element of Debussy’s complex intellectual and emotional world was an entangled love life that brought illicit trysts in Jersey, a brush with a revolver and even a suicide attempt. Rêverie is the fourth Composer Portrait compiled and scripted by pianist Lucy Parham. The narrative of Rêverie, which takes the form of a personal journal, follows him from his initial success with the Prix de Rome in 1885 to his untimely death in 1918. It is punctuated with solo piano works ranging from the ever-popular lyricism of Clair de lune, Rêverie and The Girl with the Flaxen Hair to such virtuosic showpieces as Jardins sous la pluie, the Etudes and L’isle joyeuse.