Debussy rose from a humble family tobecome one of the greatest of all Frenchcomposers, dubbed by the writer and poetGabriele D’Annunzio as ‘Claude de France’.His two books of Préludes for piano reflecttheir creator’s openness to visual andliterary imagery, and his uncanny ability toconjure soundscapes from the keyboard.

Alexander Melnikov’s interpretations ofthese sublime miniatures have developedover many years and have been informedby his deep study of the period.