French Impressionism

Almost anyone who ever took a piano lesson (or lived in a house with someone who did) has Claude Debussy's "Clair de Lune" etched on his or her DNA. Chances are, you (or your sibling) didn't play it quite as well as Ruth Laredo, known in her lifetime as "America's First Lady of the Piano." Your journey into Impressionism begins here.

One of the most gracefully beautiful pieces Maurice Ravel ever wrote is the Mother Goose Suite (Ma Mère l'Oye). It started life as a piano suite for four hands (two pianists) and was subsequently orchestrated for a ballet, giving the original composition a more expressive shape. Here, André Previn conducts the London Symphony Orchestra.

Much of the music you have heard thus far is from the Big Three of French Impressionism: Ravel, Debussy, and Satie. But don't stop there: many lesser known gems await, such as Jacques Ibert's "La Cage De Cristal" and Gabriel Fauré's majestic "Requiem," rendered by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Enjoy their musical "paintings."

Most people have at least a passing acquaintance with French Impressionism as an art movement. After all, who hasn't seen Monet, Renoir, and the like? Right around the same time, a group of French composers was doing the same thing with music — using notes to "paint" an impressionistic aural canvas. Setting a scene. Much like their painterly comrades, these works were considered radical at first and are now among the most beloved in Western culture. Experience the compositional daring of Impressionist greats with these handpicked essentials.