Debussy: A Painter in Sound

A great read, sometimes a bit heavy going but for the keen musician, a must have.

Having only gotten 90 pages in, I realise I have never read a more relentlessly disrespectful and snotty biography in my life. Walsh consistently denigrates Debussy's work with petty jabs such as: 'insignificant little song', 'Sub-Massenet', 'No harmony, only chords', and 'Pot-boiling'.Debussy's Suite Bergamasque is referred to as 'Uneven and awkwardly written' as well as being 'a slew of workaday trivia'.This is bizarre for a biography.He refers to Debussy as having borrowed from Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, but then (in the same sentence) admits that Debussy may not have known those songs. Useless.He dismisses Debussy's piano teacher as being 'vaguely bohemian' and snipes that her so-called *claim* of being taught by Chopin should be taken with a pinch of salt.He complains that as a ten year old boy Debussy was 'poorly read'. What!?As well as all that Walsh has a dig at another Debussy biographer Edward Lockspeiser, whom he refers to as 'rather prim'. In fact Lockseiser was a pretty great biographer who turned up more interesting details about Debussy, had more revealing insights and was generally speaking far more respectful of his subject.

A superb assessment of a pioneering master, who drew on literature and the fine arts to forge a revolutionary synthesis and a free and pioneering music. Revisiting even his most popular works, the reader is drawn to a deeper understanding and appreciation of Debussy's music and to seek out the many rarities in his canon.

This biography is all about Debussy's music, with an endless analysis of his creative work and very little about Debussy's social life and his relationships. Not what I would expect from a biography.